Are New Zealand inmates afforded adequate human rights protection?

Abstract

By exploring a wide spectrum of activities and conditions within the prison regime, this paper will demonstrate significant inadequacies in the protection of human rights in New Zealand prisons. Inmates are one of the most vulnerable groups in society for human rights interferences. The closed environment and the immense imbalance of power are not conducive to scrutiny, but unless human rights are enforced within the prison walls. New Zealand is not living up to its obligation to provide universal human rights protection. Attention will be paid to the fairness in prison administration, the protection of mental and physical welfare, the standard of prison conditions and the treatment received from staff. All areas of prison life have barriers to fundamental rights and this paper will show that many are rendered unnecessary through the existence of available alternatives. The slate offers three rationales to support interference with fundamental rights. The first is the punitive purpose of the sentence of imprisonment that necessarily removes all rights inherent to liberty. The second and third rationales relate to the operation of the prison system - the security and management concerns of the institution and the limited resources available to the Department of Corrections for operating the prison system. While all three rationales do provide legitimate grounds for some rights restrictions, this paper will demonstrate that all too often they have been used inappropriately to try to justify unnecessary interference.