because "there's no other suitable (i.e. accessible) place for them in the prison" (Officer). Three women were there because this was their first time in prison and they were scared. One woman was ready to go to the General Population but there was no bed for her, "so we need to wait for one. But if we need her bed here, she'll go to Management" (Officer). At the same unit, 'soft cells' (i.e. 'round cells' or 'strip cells'36) and cells at the Separates unit were sometimes used inappropriately as an overflow of women from the ARU. We were also told, in several prisons, that prisoners awaiting transfer to a forensic unit would usually be segregated until a bed became available for them, sometimes for many months. Discretionary practices As well as blanket policies which were applied also when there was no obvious rationale for their application (discussed in the following section), there was a high degree of staff discretion and it was not always clear how or why decisions were made on how to manage units, when to allow or disallow certain goods and services to secluded people (from books, art materials, TV sets, curtains and strip gowns through to time out of cell, showers, food items and coffee), or adopt practices such as strip searches (in some segregation units prisoners were strip searched upon placement whereas in others they were not). Meal times too early With one exception (Rolleston prison) meals were served much too early, with most facilities serving dinner as early as 15:30. These timings were inappropriate for adults, and the very long gap between the evening meal and the morning meal (8:00-8:30) meant that some individuals, in particular those who did not have access to canteen goods (either because they had no money to purchase them or because their disciplinary punishment included a loss of canteen purchases), could remain hungry. Food was served to segregated prisoners though a hatch / flap in their cell door, and had to be consumed inside the cell, often in close proximity to an open (cover-less) toilet. This was bad practice and unpleasant for everyone, but potentially particularly problematic for Mäori prisoners.37 36 These are essentially barren cells with nothing but a concrete slab and a mattress. Some have no sharp corners, hence the term ‘round’. Round cells (also called ‘strip cells’) are typically monitored by CCTV and some also have a glass wall, or large glass windows to facilitate observation of the prisoner. 37 I have been informed by the Human Rights Commission's Cultural Advisor that this practice is particularly problematic from a cultural perspective, as in Mäori culture food occupies a specially sacred place and the area where it is prepared, and the area where it is consumed, must be kept strictly separate to avoid and danger of cross contamination. 35