(b) The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, which has recommended that the Government “take appropriate administrative and legislative measures to ensure: (a) that pretrial detention is used as the last resort, that is when necessary to prevent the commission of further offences or to ensure the integrity of the trial process; and (b) that the period of pretrial detention is not excessively prolonged.”132 111. As at March 2023, approximately 44 per cent of Aotearoa New Zealand’s prison population was being held on remand.133 In the year ended December 2022, Māori made up 56 per cent of the remand prison population, despite representing only 16.5 per cent of the country’s total population.134 As discussed further below, more than half of the female prison are being held on remand. 112. The high population of people on remand places pressure on the prison system, contributing to over-crowding.135 Corrections has advised the Commission that the transitional nature of the environment for people on remand is often volatile. This has led to higher rates of the use of force against remand prisoners compared with the sentenced prisoner population. All people held on remand in Aotearoa New Zealand are automatically subject to a high security classification, regardless of the nature of their alleged offending. They are also restricted in access to educational and rehabilitative programmes and services. 113. The Committee may wish to inquire further about effective and measurable steps being taken by the Government to: (a) Recognise, respect and support Māori rangatiratanga (sovereign authority) and selfdetermination to design and implement their own initiatives to address Māori and criminal justice in accordance with tikanga Māori; (b) Reduce the rate of people being held on prolonged pre-trial detention; and (c) Improve the conditions of prisoners held on pre-trial detention, in accordance with international human rights standards and obligations including the Nelson Mandela Rules. Women in prison 114. Women remain a minority within Aotearoa New Zealand’s total prison population, making up approximately 6 per cent.136 Of these, a disproportionate number of Māori women are in prisons, making up 65 per cent of women in Aotearoa New Zealand’s correctional facilities are Māori, (compared to roughly 16.5 per cent of the country’s female population). Corrections has made efforts to limit the number of women coming to prison, and data shows that these efforts have been successful: following a period of substantial growth, the numbers peaked about in 2018 at over 800 women in prison and have been decreasing since.137 However, in the 132 Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, Report on Visit to New Zealand undertaken from 29 April to 8 May 2013: observations and recommendations addressed to the State party UN Doc. CAT/OP/NZL/1 (10 February 2017) at [32]. 133 3,689 prisoners were awaiting trial, out of a total prison population of 8,294. See above n 114. 134 Ara Poutama Aotearoa | Department of Corrections ‘Prison statistics – Remand and sentenced snapshot’ available at https://www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/statistics/quarterly_prison_statistics. As at December 2022 people were held on remand for a total of 14,145 offences, with 7,992 of these offences representing Māori. 135 Contrary to the Nelson Mandela Rules, rule 113. 136 Above n 134. 137 Above n 134. In the last decade, there was first an increase in numbers (511 to 809 from March 2012 to March 2018), followed by a reduction: from 809 (7.7% of total prison population) to 501 (6.1%) between March 2018 and March 2023. 28