1. The Ombudsman has issued a damning report on the Prisoners of Extreme Risk Unit (PERU), described as a “prison within a prison” by its own staff. The PERU represents the worst kind of State misuse of power: acting outside the laws which bind us. The Ombudsman reports there is little accountability for what is happening behind closed prison doors.
2. The Ombudsman has found that every person in the PERU is likely to have experienced prolonged solitary confinement and conditions amounting to cruel and inhuman treatment, in breach of Article 16 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT). The prisoners are lacking in every key facet of life: meaningful human contact, sunshine, fresh air and rehabilitation programmes. Mostly, they are contained to their cells for 24 hours a day.
3. Housed, most for years, in a unit built for short-term punishment, the 13 or so prisoners spend most of their time pacing their 10 sq m yard, with little fresh air or sunshine and no human interaction. There was little rationale as to how prisoners were assessed as ‘extreme risk’ and no real plan for their progression once they were in PERU. The Ombudsman found camera footage of use of force on prisoners by the staff and documentation of that event been destroyed, making any external scrutiny of the events impossible.
4. “The PERU represents a failure in the treatment of fellow human beings” says barrister Emma Priest. “Men held in the PERU are not told the basis for their placement in the PERU and they have no ability to challenge their status and no idea when or how they can leave. There is no doubt that the State is breaching basic domestic and international human rights obligations. This is a shocking indictment on New Zealand society”.
5. The Ombudsman was also critical of the lack of checks and balances of the PERU, with even the Chief Executive showing deference to the Prisoners of Extreme Risk Commissioner. What happens behind closed doors stays there.Prisoners located in the PERU included those with intellectual disability and those on remand with no previous convictions. It is difficult to fatham the basis for keeping these people in prolonged solitary confinement.
6. “Placing immense power in the hands of a single individual would be frowned upon by most kiwis, who understand what democracy looks like” says lawyer Amanda Hill. “When one person has the power to control every facet of another person’s life, without any intervention by a third party, we need to be very alive to the implications of that”.
7. Both Priest and Hill agree with the Ombudsman that the operating model of the PERU cannot continue. “The response by Corrections is insufficient. The lawfulness of the unit has been seriously questioned in this report, and rightly so.” says Priest. “Only a complete overhaul of the way the PERU is run will change the illegal practices currently in place”.
8. “I have no faith that Corrections is motivated to make any meaningful change” says Hill. “It is time for the Minister to intervene. He needs to ask himself if he is going to be the Minister who knowingly perpetuated torture on his watch – or will he have the courage to make the changes needed for the State to run a lawful operation?”

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