Corrections (Victim Protection) Amendment Bill
This bill changes the rules around prisoners contacting people who don't want to hear from them. It makes it a prison offence for a prisoner to contact someone — or get another person to contact someone — who they know doesn't want that contact. It also requires prison management to tell visitors and people who receive messages from prisoners about the steps they can take to stop unwanted contact. Victim interests must be formally considered when deciding conditions on prisoner phone calls and mail.
What this affects
Tap a topic to see how this bill touches it — with the parts of the text it’s based on.
The bill creates a new prison offence for prisoners who contact — or get others to contact — someone who doesn't want to hear from them.
contacts a person, or solicits anyone else to contact a person, who the prisoner knows or ought reasonably to know does not want to be so contacted
In deciding what conditions (if any) to impose, the chief executive or the Commissioner of Police must take into account the interests of victims (including, in particular, being free from unwanted contact with prisoners)
ensuring that processes are established and maintained to inform visitors of prisoners and recipients of prisoner communications of measures that they can take if they do not want to be contacted by a prisoner
Progress through Parliament
Have your say
Submissions open once a bill reaches the select committee stage. In the meantime, you can write to your local MP about it.
Write to your MPBill text sourced from legislation.govt.nz (Parliamentary Counsel Office). Arapono’s summary and breakdown are drafted with AI grounded in that official text and reviewed by an Arapono editor for accuracy and neutrality before publishing. Arapono is non-partisan and takes no position on this bill.