A new report by the independent watchdog Aotearoa Justice Watch (AJW) details numerous testimonies of abuse, discrimination and alleged violations of human rights within New Zealand’s criminal justice system.

Aotearoa Justice Watch was formed in 2022 and is made up of People Against Prisons Aotearoa, Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand, JustSpeak and the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties. It provides a platform for people with lived experience of prisons and policing in Aotearoa to share their stories anonymously. The watchdog organisation seeks to elevate these voices in efforts to address the serious human rights concerns across the country’s criminal justice system.

AJW’s first report, published today, draws on 62 submissions made between June 2022 and March 2024. Of these, 36 testimonies relate to prisons, 20 to policing and six to both policing and prisons. The allegations made in these submissions have not been verified by AJW. However, many issues raised correlate closely to those highlighted by other groups, such as the Ombudsman and the Office of the Inspectorate.

Key themes and findings

Anyone with experience of prisons or policing can make a report to Aotearoa Justice Watch. This includes those who have had experiences with Police, people in prison, prison staff, Police officers, whānau, friends and those who are no longer in prison. Submissions can be made via the AJW website: https://aotearoajusticewatch.org.nz/

Experiences shared with AJW range from excessive use of force by Police officers to inadequate healthcare in prison. The submissions were assessed using a method called Reflexive Thematic Analysis to identify key themes. Key themes heard in submissions relating to incarceration include:

• Issues relating to individual staff members and their behaviour, including sexual violence and use of force.
• Complaints around conditions of confinement.
• The treatment of people with health issues in prison.
• Issues with the internal complaints system.

Multiple people wrote to AJW with allegations of sexual violence, largely in the context of a strip or rub-down searches in prison. One submitter said they felt "degraded" by their experience of strip searches, which they described as "inhumane".

Regarding experiences with Police, the key themes arising from submissions include:

• Concerns about improper searches.
• Harassment, intimidation, racism and coercion.
• Violence and excessive use of force.

Lisa Woods, Campaigns Director at Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand, said, "Treating people with dignity is a core tenet of human rights. Many of the stories submitted to AJW are particularly shocking because they suggest that human dignity is being undermined in numerous ways across the criminal justice system, which can result in significant harm. The aim of this report is to shine a light on the current system and serious human rights concerns in order to identify the ways in which our government needs to do better."

JustSpeak Executive Director Lisa Silipa said, "Any changes in policing and prisons must be informed by the people most affected by these institutions."

"The information people have shared so far have painted a fuller picture of the human experiences within these systems - experiences which are often lost or minimised in official reporting. AJW is about empowering people to sharing their stories safely, and to create a platform for people to come together with a collective voice. This is how we can bring real transformative change to the justice system," Silipa said.

Urgent action needed to reduce harm

The four groups behind Aotearoa Justice Watch are calling for transformation across the criminal justice system.

Emmy Rākete, a spokesperson for People Against Prisons Aotearoa, said this report was a powerful call to action for the New Zealand Government.

"PAPA is calling for a fundamentally different approach to criminal justice in this country. As a society, we now have a wealth of knowledge to guide a pathway towards the transformation of the justice system," she said.

Thomas Beagle, Chairperson for the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties, said, "The Council for Civil Liberties exists to protect the rights and liberties of all people in Aotearoa New Zealand. The justice system is one where the power of the state is felt the sharpest, and we know that this power can be misused in ways which cause great harm. We welcome this report by Aotearoa Justice Watch as an opportunity to locate and describe abuses of power so that areas for improvement may be identified."

According to Woods, any effort to fix the immediate issues with policing and prisons needs to be coupled with long-term transformative work.

"Ultimately we need a system that fully upholds Te Tiriti o Waitangi and protects the human rights of all people," she said.

Background

While many of the findings of this report are shocking, they may not be a representative sample of experiences of incarceration and policing. Instead, the experiences should be considered as allegations of misconduct and mistreatment. It was beyond the scope of this report to test the veracity of these allegations, although, in many cases, they echo findings from organisations like the Ombudsman and the Inspectorate of Corrections.

For example, a report by the Office of the Inspectorate published last year found that many people in prison are likely to have been subjected to solitary confinement. Also in 2023, the Office of the Ombudsman released two reports following inspections at Christchurch Women’s Prison and Wellington’s Arohata Prison. These reports found a range of issues with the way in which the use of force was recorded, including missing documentation, substandard reporting and a lack of detail on how unjustified force was addressed.

Last year, the United Nations Committee Against Torture has also called out various human rights concerns relating to New Zealand’s justice system. These include:

• excessive use of various means of physical or chemical restraint
• access to a lawyer
• the use of prolonged solitary confinement
• the denial of adequate time out of cell
• the disproportionate incarceration rates of Māori
• insufficient mental health services
• the lack of meaningful activities for people in prisons
• understaffing in places of detention, and several other issues.

Notes:

The following spokespeople are available. To arrange an interview, please contact Jason Garman on 022 075 9165 or jason.garman@amnesty.org.nz

Aotearoa Justice Watch organisations:

Lisa Woods, Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand, Campaigns Director

David Vega, Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand, Senior Campaigner

Emmy Rākete, People Against Prisons Aotearoa

Lisa Silipa, JustSpeak, Executive Director

Thomas Beagle, New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties, President

Aotearoa Justice Watch Panel, who reviewed the report:

Awatea Mita, First Class Honours Degree in criminology, lived expertise of incarceration, sexual harm, substance abuse, maternal grief and cancer survival, currently Women’s Services Coordinator at Te Wāhi Wāhine o Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Women’s Centre

Dylan Asafo, Master of Laws from Harvard University, Auckland Law School Senior Lecturer, Newsroom contributor, Fulbright General Graduate Award recipient, racial justice and Pacific legal issues researcher

Lance Ryan, AUT Lecturer in Criminal Procedure and Law of Evidence, lived experience of incarceration and the justice system 

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