Key findings • Overall, there is a continued and high use of solitary confinement and other punitive practices towards women. In 2019 women were segregated significantly (73%) more often than men in New Zealand’s prisons. • While the majority of segregations were relatively short, there were 101 occasions in 2019 where women spent 15 days or longer in segregation, a period defined as ‘prolonged’ and prohibited as a form of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the UN Nelson Mandela Rules. • Mäori and Pacific women were disproportionately segregated in Management and Separates Units used for control and punishment. At Auckland Region Women’s Correctional Facility (‘ARWCF’), 78% and 75% of segregations in the Separates and Management Units respectively were of Mäori women. As many as 93% of segregations lasting 15 days or longer in the Management Unit were of Mäori or Pacific women. • Conditions, security arrangements and regime at the Management and Separates Units at ARWCF mirrored those in men’s prisons and were correspondingly harsh. • Women’s management plans were focused on compliance. Staff attitudes appeared often to be punitive and inflexible and opportunities to deescalate situations were missed. It was not clear what women had to do to demonstrate good behaviour and there was little evidence of encouragement of pro-social behaviour. • Intervention and Support Unit (‘ISU’) cells were not always used for their intended protective purpose, nor were staff always clear about the criteria for placement. Women continued to be locked up in solitary confinement for all or most of the day, with no personal belongings or access to activities, programmes, and with little or no access to interventions. • There were incidents where women were restrained and forcibly undressed upon admission to an ISU and forced to wear anti-rip gowns even where this was a source of agitation and conflict. Anti-rip gowns and bedding were used to self-harm on a number of occasions. • 103 self-harm incidents were recorded across the women’s estate in 2019, the majority in ISUs. There appeared to be a lack of compassion for women who self-harmed on a number of occasions, evident from further restraints and force used following self-harm attempts and women who were clearly very unwell remained in the prison rather than being transferred to hospital. 10