The number of inmates choosing to be separated from the general population is soaring, with advocates saying it shows growing fear as gang-affiliations become more prominent.  

Figures released to Newstalk ZB under the Official Information Act shows prison staff approved 12,153 prisoner requests for segregation in the 2023/24 financial year, up 66% from 7,284 in the 2018/19 financial year.

20,594 individual people experienced imprisonment at some point in the 2023/24 financial year.

People Against Prisons Aotearoa spokesperson Emmy Rakete said it was far from a meaningless change.

“This measures danger, this measures fear, these numbers show us that in the very recent history of New Zealand’s prison system there’s been a terrifying explosion in dread among incarcerated people.”

She said inmates choose to be moved to a separate area of the prison because they fear they’ll be targeted for their gang affiliation, lack thereof, or for their sexual or gender identity.

“If this is one of the few tools that incarcerated people have got to try to control their exposure to violence, then of course they’re going to use it. What I want to know is why are there no better alternatives?”

Corrections Association of New Zealand president, Floyd du Plessis, said the number of voluntary segregations was being driven up by a “massive increase in violence and aggressions within the prisons”. 

“Because that number’s become so high, it’s actually hard to accommodate and find placement for them,” he said.

“Quite often we have a number of areas across the country where we’ve got voluntarily segregated and general population prisoners in one unit, which means we’re having to split the unlock for that day so they’re only getting half the time out that they should.”

But du Plessis said the greatest burden was the prisoners being forcefully separated because of their risk to others.  There were 4,590 directed segregations in the 2023/24 financial year compared to 2,594 in the 2018/19 financial year.

Over 2300 were done so for the safety of others.

“They’re actively giving threats of violence and aggression and so staff have to deal with them in higher numbers and in isolation so there’s a lot of violence that comes out of that.”  

University of Canterbury Sociologist Jarrod Gilbert released a report in March which called for segregated wings for patched members after witnessing their mounting influence in person.

It showed the segregated prison population had risen from 4% in 1983 to over 35% in 2023.

Gilbert said if prisoners didn’t join a gang, they had to be able to stand up for themselves.

“Your chicken’s going to be taken off you, any goods that you might have are going to be taken off you, you’ll be stood over, physically intimidated, potentially made to fight. A lot of people simply can’t handle that.”

He was worried voluntary segregation was becoming the new normal.

“We’re basically creating two prison systems. One for people who are very strong and can dominate, and those who are forced to leave.”

The Department of Corrections said a range of complex factors contributed to rising voluntary segregation but admitted, “it has happened at a time we’ve seen a growing prison population, and an increasing proportion of prisoners who are gang affiliated”.

It said it had a significant amount of work underway to address it, including carefully planning where prisoners with gang affiliations were placed and sharing intelligence with police to disrupt gang activity.

The Deputy Commissioner for Men’s Prisons, Neil Beales said it also had a strong focus on helping prisoners leave gangs through education and rehabilitation programmes.

Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell said he was aware of the tools in place.

“I am confident they use these tools appropriately, and in the best interests of both staff and prisoners.”

Jordan Dunn is a multimedia reporter based in Auckland with a focus on crime, social issues, policing and local issues. He joined Newstalk ZB in 2024 from Radio New Zealand, where he started as an intern out of the New Zealand Broadcasting School.