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Nearly 30 drones have been spotted near prisons in a year, and Corrections says it’s a challenge to keep up with the technology.
Data obtained by RNZ shows there were 15 drone sightings over, around and within prison grounds in the year to June 2024, and a further 13 in this financial year.
Christchurch Men’s Prison had the highest number of sightings with seven reported, while the highest number of reported sightings in the last financial year was Whanganui Prison, with five sightings.
Corrections spokesman Neil Beales said it is a challenge to keep up with ever-changing drone technology.
“We know that criminals, and people who try to help criminals, will always try to find new ways to get contraband into prisons and undermine our security processes,” he said.
‘We have been aware of the threat of drones for at least the past decade, ever since drones became more readily available to the public.
“We have worked very closely with our intelligence teams, obviously we work closely with the police and look at what powers we have, but it is the technology that will always be the challenge.
Beales said technology was developing too quickly for Corrections to always cope with the threat it posed.
“We are aware of the fact that we are not immune to the increase in technology,” he said.
He said not all drones were sent to deliver contraband to prisons.
“Some of them could just be people flying drones near the prison, with no idea that they are actually near a prison,” he said.
“Sometimes it can be more sinister than that.”
Beales said Corrections worked with drone manufacturers to geo-fence parts of the system, but even that might not be invulnerable to anyone with a reasonable understanding of technology.
“You can never rely on just one method,” he said.
“Preventing and detecting contraband in prison is a whole range of things, so that’s using intelligence, making sure we have staff on the ground who are alert to the potential risks, managing the prisoner population appropriately, search regularly. ” he said.
Drug testing was also part of prevention, Beales said.
Corrections data shows that 2,359 contraband items, including alcohol, drugs and weapons, were found in prisons in September of this year.
The highest number of drone sightings occurred in 2019-2020, with a total of 21 sightings across the country, 11 of which occurred at the Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison.
Beales said those bringing contraband into the prisons were creating significant risks and dangers to staff and inmates at the prison.
“For those people who will continue to try to get contraband into the prisons, we know they won’t give up, and neither will we.
“We will continue to monitor this issue closely, and we will always seek to ensure that the law is applied as fully as possible to those who introduce or attempt to introduce contraband into prisons,” Beales said.
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