New Zealand Human Rights Commission Submission to the CAT in relation to NZ’s 6th periodic review Correctional Institutions 113. Asylum seekers and irregular migrants who are considered to potentially pose risk of absconding and/or a risk to national security are detained in correctional institutions. At the time of the WGAD visit to New Zealand they are generally held in Waikeria Prison, Arohata Prison for Women and Mt Eden Corrections Facility. These prisons are not providing separate facilities for immigrants in an irregular situation and asylum seekers. 114. Asylum seekers detained in these prisons are criminalised and are subject to general prison standards such as wearing prisoner uniforms and lockdowns. The UNHCR has made it clear that the imposition of such standards on asylum seekers is inappropriate.57 115. There are well known negative, and at times serious, physical and psychological, consequences for asylum seekers in prison detention. However, prison staff are often not trained in relation to asylum, the identification of the symptoms of trauma and standards related to detention of asylum seekers. 116. Furthermore corrections staff are often unaware which detainees are asylum seekers. The absence of this basic knowledge can prove problematic in monitoring the standards and conditions being applied to asylum seekers. 117. The Commission recommends that the Government commits to ensuring that:  asylum seekers detained in correctional facilities are separated from other prisoners;  asylum seekers are not subject to criminal standards of detention; and  prison staff are appropriately trained in relation to standards of detention for asylum seekers, the identification of the symptoms of trauma and human rights. 57 UNHCR, Detention guidelines, p 31 available at http://www.unhcr.org/505b10ee9.html . 46