Foreword The Human Rights Commission invited Dr Sharon Shalev in 2016 to undertake a review of seclusion and restraint practices in New Zealand’s places of detention. This was designed to provide an independent perspective on New Zealand’s progress towards meeting its human rights obligations and where it needed to improve. Dr Shalev undertook her initial review in co-operation with New Zealand’s National Preventive Mechanism which consists of five organisations. Four of these organisations are independent public sector watchdogs tasked with visiting and monitoring places of detention under the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT): Chief Ombudsman, Children’s Commissioner, Independent Police Conduct Authority and Inspector of Service Penal Establishments. The Human Rights Commission is the fifth organisation and it is New Zealand’s Central National Preventive Mechanism. In this capacity the Commission has several responsibilities, such as supporting the work of the other four organisations. Dr Shalev’s 2017 report, Thinking Outside the Box?, provided a clear pathway forward with a suite of thematic and specific recommendations for New Zealand’s detaining agencies to implement. Following the release of her report, all agencies acknowledged Dr Shalev’s recommendations. The Ministry of Health and Oranga Tamariki committed to implementing most, and the Department of Corrections committed to implementing some, of Dr Shalev’s recommendations. Follow-up reports are critical for ensuring the human rights standards the Government has committed to are worked towards and maintained. As New Zealand’s Central National Preventive Mechanism under OPCAT, this is a fundamental concern of the Human Rights Commission.i It has been the Commission’s privilege to engage Dr Shalev to prepare this vital follow-up report which assesses the progress agencies have made in implementing the recommendations in Thinking Outside the Box?. It covers the period from the date Thinking Outside the Box? was published in 2017 to the period immediately preceding the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. Dr Shalev’s findings indicate that while there have been positive developments and strong commitments from the detaining agencies to reduce the use of seclusion, seclusion and restraint continue to be embedded in their practices. i. See Association for the Prevention of Torture, written submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission Consultation, 21 July 2017 particularly 2. Coordination of the overall system at page 3 3