38204 (2025). Hon Dr Duncan Webb to the Minister of Corrections

38204 (2025). Hon Dr Duncan Webb to the Minister of Corrections: In the past twelve months how much (if anything) has the Department of Corrections spent on external legal advice; how much of this (if any) related to claims made by prisoners for breaches of prisoner rights?

Hon Mark Mitchell: As one of New Zealand’s largest public service departments, Corrections employs approximately 11,000 staff and is responsible for managing around 10,700 prisoners and approximately 26,000 people in the community. Corrections manages 17 prisons and a significant number of Community Corrections sites across the country. I am advised that Corrections spent $7,736,157 on external legal advice between 1 August 2024 and 31 July 2025, which includes legal support provided by the Crown Law Office and other Crown Solicitors. I am further advised that the purpose of the legal advice is not held in a readily retrievable format and to provide this information would amount to substantial collation and manual analysis, which I am not prepared to ask of my officials for the purposes of this response.