The lack of mental health and other facilities outside of prison are contributing to high reoffending rates of low-level criminals, a justice advocate says.
There are fresh questions this morning about the effectiveness of prison, with the revelation New Zealand's most prolific criminal has been sentenced more than 200 times.
The 20 people who have appeared before the courts the most times have been collectively sentenced 2562 times since 1980, but their offending is relatively low-level.
Justice reform campaigner Kim Workman said prison rehabilitation does well to focus on high risk, serious offenders - but not low-level inmates.
He believes low-level offenders shouldn't go to jail in the first place because not only does it not rehabilitate them, it encourages a cycle of reoffending.
Petty criminals respond better to facilities outside of prisons such as structured, community-based residential areas, Workman said. In many cases, there are mental health issues that are not being properly responded to through the mental health system.
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