People Against Prisons Aotearoa

Abolitionist Demand 29: End the practice of double-bunking and institute a moratorium on all prison construction.

This is a part of No Pride in Prisons’ Abolitionist demands. These demands were originally published as a book. To see a pdf of the book, click here. To buy a copy, please email info@noprideinprisons.org.nz

New Zealand’s prisons are severely overcrowded. Throughout 2015 and 2016, the total number of incarcerated people has surpassed all previous records and is expected to exceed 10,000 for the first time by 2017.^[1] According to the Institute for Criminal Policy Research, the New Zealand prison system is operating at 106.1% of capacity.^[2] Part of the Department of Corrections’ response to the overcrowding crisis has been: to keep open old, dilapidated prisons which were scheduled to be closed;^[3] to house incarcerated people in gymnasiums;^[4] and to increase the number of cells where two or more people are kept, also known as double-bunking.^[5]

Recent increases in the use of double-bunking have occurred following some high-profile incidents of violence against incarcerated people as a result of the policy. In particular, in October 2015, a trans woman in Auckland South Corrections Facility, a men’s prison, was moved from protective segregation and into the mainstream population. Within a short time, the woman was badly assaulted and needed medical care. Instead of leaving her in a medical bay overnight or moving her back into protective segregation, prison officers then placed the woman overnight in a cell with a man. That man then raped her.^[6] This rape, as well as countless other rapes of incarcerated people, would not have occurred were it not for the policy of double-bunking.

International studies have consistently demonstrated that there is a link between overcrowding and an increasing number of incidents of this kind. Violence, rape and adverse health outcomes have been connected to overcrowding in the US prison system.^[7] Double-bunking, in particular, “could be expected to produce adverse psychological effects,”^[8] as well as increased rates of rules infractions, and in an increase in the number of inmate deaths.^[9] Since the massive expansion of double bunking in New Zealand prisons in 2009,^[10] there has been an increase in the rates of violence and inmate deaths.^[11] For these reasons, as well as a recognition of the basic human right to privacy, and the dignity that comes with having one’s own space, No Pride in Prisons demands the immediate end to the practice of double bunking.

Although No Pride in Prisons makes this demand, we absolutely reject an alternative which includes the building of more prisons. The prison achieves none of its aims, such as correction, a reduction in social harm, or justice.^[12] Building newer, flashier prisons will not undo the harm the prison does to incarcerated people, their loved ones, and to their communities. Although overcrowding exacerbates problems associated with prisons, the underlying dehumanising practices of being regularly strip-searched, being denied adequate medical care and being denied fundamental bodily autonomy remain regardless of the levels of overcrowding. That means that any solution to the catastrophe of New Zealand’s prison overcrowding crisis cannot involve anything that expands the prison system. Therefore, the end of the practice of double-bunking requires a simultaneous reduction in the total number of incarcerated people and a moratorium on all prison construction.

^[1] Jimmy Ellingham, “New Zealand Prison Population Rising,” NZ Herald, 18 May 2016. http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11640707.

^[2] Institute for Criminal Policy Research, “New Zealand | World Prison Brief,” Institute for Criminal Policy Research, 17 March 2016. http://www.prisonstudies.org/country/new-zealand.

^[3] NZME, “More Prison Cells Could be ‘Double-bunked’,” Otago Daily Times, 17 February 2016. http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/373454/more-prison-cells-could-be-double-bunked.

^[4] Doug Laing, “Prison Adds 100 New Beds,” Hawke’s Bay Today, 25 July 2016. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=11680767.

^[5] Isaac Davison, “Prison Cells Could be ‘Double-bunked’ to Cope with Increase in Prisoners,” NZ Herald, 17 February 2016. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11591116.

^[6] No Pride in Prisons, “Trans Woman Raped In Auckland South Corrections Facility,” Scoop, 5 October 2015. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1510/S00067/trans-woman-raped-in-auckland-south-corrections-facility.htm.

^[7] James Oleson, “The Punitive Coma,” California Law Review 90, 3 (2002).

^[8] Terence P. Thornberry and Jack E. Call, “Constitutional Challenges to Prison Overcrowding: The Scientific Evidence of Harmful Effects,” Hastings Law Journal, 2 (1983): 320.

^[9] Ibid., 330.

^[10] NZPA, “Double-bunking May Rise to 35 Percent – Corrections CEO,” NBR, 29 June 2009. http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/double-bunking-may-rise-35-percent-corrections-ceo-104254.

^[11] Marika Hill, “Prison Assaults ‘Nearly Double’,” Stuff, 6 November 2011. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-news/latest-edition/5915707/Prison-assaults-nearly-double.

^[12] JustSpeak, Unlocking Prisons: How We Can Improve New Zealand’s Prison System, (Wellington: JustSpeak, 2014).