Neil Beales
Corrections knew of solitary confinement law breach
A scathing report by the prison inspectorate has found inmates in three units at Auckland jail at Paremoremo were not allowed out of their cells for the minimum requirement of an hour a day… Audio
Corrections Department investigating tangi shooting
The Corrections Department is investigating an incident yesterday in which officers were forced to barricade themselves inside a van with a prisoner after the van's tyres were slashed and shots were… Audio
Corrections facing recruitment and retention challenges
Getting and keeping is staff is one of Corrections biggest challenges, in the face of a rising prison population, including more violent extremist inmates. The Department's has launched yet another… Video, Audio
Six charged over allegations Corrections staff were bribed with sex and cash
Six people have appeared in court today, charged over allegations Corrections staff were bribed with cash and sex to take contraband into Wellington's Rimutaka Prison. Of the six, three men have been… Audio
Corrections chief custodial officer discusses inmate standoff
Five youth inmates remain on the roof of Hawke's Bay Regional Prison where there is considerable damage to the facility.
Projectiles were thrown at staff when the standoff began yesterday afternoon.
…Concerns over youth prison units becoming Covid wards
Prison reform advocates and some lawyers are concerned about plans to repurpose two youth units into covid quarantine units, despite a promise from the Corrections Department that no young people will… Audio
Covid-19: 202 prison staff on leave over vaccine refusal
Corrections has placed 202 prison staff on special leave because they haven't had at least one shot of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The Government required all prison staff to have their first vaccination… Audio
Corrections boss details three Covid cases at Mt Eden Prison
A prisoner from Mount Eden jail is in hospital under guard after becoming ill with Delta, and two others with the virus are in quarantine at the prison.
Corrections says all three of the prisoners… Audio
Keeping fathers connected to their children during prison terms
Nurturing men's parenting skills while they're prison can reduce the chances of them reoffending when they get out.
Nearly a third of men released from prison end up back inside after a just year and… Audio
Corrections months behind on modular prison units
The Corrections Department is blaming conditions in the construction industry for a six-month delay in introducing new modular units to the country's prisons.
The units were announced in 2017 but are… Audio
How sport in prisons can reduce re-offending
UK Professor of Criminological Psychology Rosie Meek talks to Kathryn Ryan about her research into the benefits of structured exercise in prisons. Also joining the discussion is Neal Beals, Chief… Audio
Corrections admits to violence problem at prison
We talked earlier on Morning Report to Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier about his call for urgent action at Whanganui Prison to tackle inmate violence and intimidation. The Ombudsman's report found that… Audio
Corrections admits 'pervasive' violence in Whanganui prison
The Department of Corrections readily admits inmate and gang violence at Whanganui Prison is pervasive but it says it's doing everything it can to change the culture. The Chief Ombudsman Peter… Audio
Majority of prisoners use meth in lead up to jail - Insight
The meth epidemic sweeping New Zealand it not only causing personal heartache, it costing the prison service millions.
Recent research done by the Department of Corrections suggests more than half of… Audio
Art in Prisons
The arts and creative expression can be a powerful tool in supporting the rehabilitation process of prisoners and their re-integration back into the community on release. Neil Beales, Corrections… Audio
Unannounced visit from Ombudsman reveals unsafe prison
Corrections' Chief Custodial Officer Neil Bates says Hawke's Bay Prison is a big, complex prison with major gang issues which become magnified in that setting. But he says the prison does not need a… Audio
Corrections vows to learn from critical HRC report
Corrections defends what they've doing within the prisons to keep people safe, pointing out there has been just one suicide in the past business year in prison. "At risk units have a place but what we… Audio
Corrections refuses Ombudsman's request to remove some cameras
Corrections is refusing to remove cameras from some parts of prisons despite an Ombudsman's report they amount to degrading treatment under the Crimes of Torture Act. Audio
Lawyer says hundreds of thousands of strip searches illegal
A human rights lawyer is accusing the Corrections Department of carrying out hundreds of thousands of illegal strip searches of inmates. Audio
Prison officers using on-body cameras
Neil Beales is the Department of Corrections Chief Custodial Officer. The Department of Corrections is a about to trial on-body cameras for prison officers in some maximum security units, aimed at… Audio