Report on an unannounced follow-up inspection of Christchurch Women's Prison - 4 April 2018

On 1 and 2 November 2017, Inspector Eric Fairbairn and Inspector Emma Roebuck (to whom I have delegated authority to carry out visits of places of detention under COTA)[1] visited Christchurch Women's Prison (the Prison) to follow up on recommendations made in a previous OPCAT report (December 2014).  

During the visit on 1 and 2 November 2017, the Inspectors visited all units and spoke with a selection of managers, staff and prisoners across the site. On the first day of the inspection, there were 121 prisoners in the Prison.

A voluntary, confidential and anonymous prisoners’ questionnaire was distributed. The questionnaire is designed to capture prisoners’ experiences and perceptions. The inspection team spoke with prisoners individually and in groups to explain the purpose of the questionnaire. Results of the questionnaire are just one of several sources of evidence used and triangulated by Inspectors to help them form judgements about the Prison.

One hundred and sixteen questionnaires were given out and 93 were returned (eighty percent). The questionnaire results will be used as part of a future findings report on the treatment of women prisoners.

Inspectors made seven recommendations in December 2014. Corrections has published all full OPCAT inspection reports on its website, and readers can refer to these published reports for Corrections’ responses to our findings and recommendations.