The Green Party welcomes the announcement today from the Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis for an urgent review of women's prisons.
"It's a relief to hear the Minister commit to change in his department following the evidence of cruel and inhumane treatment," says Green Party spokesperson for Corrections Golriz Ghahraman.
"We are grateful these revelations have been made public through the findings of the independent Corrections Inspectorate, the media and the court case of Mihi Bassett.
"But we can't afford to wait for investigations or court cases to learn about systemic abuses and inhumane treatment in our prisons.
"We need transparency and culture change in the system. The work programme set out for Corrections should be extended to all prisons, including men's prisons, where we know serious breaches of human rights have occurred, leading most recently to the Waikeria Prison riot."
