Christchurch prisoners offered extra blankets after heating ‘temporarily shut down’ in -3C weather

Wednesday, 24 June 2026

Inmates at Christchurch Men’s Prison had no heating in their unit as overnight temperatures dropped to -3C.

A woman, who did not want to be identified but was in regular contact with a prisoner, said he told her there were heating issues in the prison every winter.

However, Corrections says the recent issues were temporary and intermittent.

The woman said the man contacted her after consecutive days of no heating in his cell as temperatures plummeted to -3C in the early hours of Friday.

“This is not a one-off maintenance issue. The inmate [has] been at this facility for three years, and this exact heating failure has happened every single winter he has been there, leaving vulnerable men to freeze in their cells every year,” she said.

She said prisoners had tried to report the issue.

“The response from the prison has been completely unacceptable. Inmates who attempt to use the electronic internal kiosks to report the freezing conditions are receiving automated generic replies stating the prison has 14 days to respond.”

She understood prisoners had made contact with the Office of the Inspectorate directly via the phone.

However, a spokesperson for the office said the inspector was not aware of heating issues in the unit.

“The Inspectorate had not received any complaints relating to cold at the DRU unit at Christchurch Men's Prison either this year or in past years. We’ve checked back to 2019,” they said.

The prison’s general manager Jo Harrex said a boiler connected to the heating system in the DRU unit was being upgraded.

“This is a scheduled upgrade due to the age of the boiler system,” she said.

As part of the upgrade, heating to the unit was shut down at 8am on Tuesday to allow a temporary connection to be installed.

“Heating was reinstated later that same afternoon. Following this, an issue affecting overnight heating was identified on Thursday and was escalated to the contractors working on the boiler upgrade.

“Staff were instructed to provide additional blankets to affected prisoners.”

The heating system operated as expected, however a further fault occurred over the weekend, she said.

“This was again escalated to our contractor, and the system was fully operating again soon after.”

She said the DRU was a 20-bed unit and Corrections did not not monitor cell temperatures unless there were ongoing known issues relating to temperature control.

“No prisoners have needed to be moved from the unit. We are actively monitoring progress of the upgrade works and will continue to prioritise the wellbeing of prisoners and staff should any further impacts occur.”

Staff would remain responsive to any concerns raised and the work was due for completion in the next two or three weeks.