Story: Prisons

Prison cell at Arohata, 1983

Prison cell at Arohata, 1983

A woman sits in a cell at Arohata Prison in 1983. At this time Arohata was a youth prison for women, but it became a women's prison in 1987. During the 1980s the number of female prisoners remained relatively low, but in December 2011 there were 499 women prisoners in New Zealand. They were still a small proportion (around 6%) of the total prison population. In 2012 there were three women's facilities in New Zealand: Auckland Region Women's Corrections Facility at Manukau, Arohata Women's Prison at Tawa, Wellington, and Christchurch Women's Prison at Templeton (Paparua).

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PAColl-7327)
Reference: EP/1988/1818
Photograph by Merv Griffiths

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Peter Clayworth, 'Prisons - Women in prison', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/36780/prison-cell-at-arohata-1983 (accessed 19 April 2024)

Story by Peter Clayworth, published 20 Jun 2012