New Zealand’s success at containing the coronavirus, despite a potential reemergence in August, is viewed by the World Health Organization as a model for handling a pandemic. This same success also appears within one of its most vulnerable locales—prisons. While New Zealand’s Department of Corrections has not experienced a single COVID-19 case within prison walls, the efforts to contain the virus have also come at costs to incarcerated individuals’ rights. This article demonstrates the successful efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic in New Zealand and how these efforts have been met with both praise and criticism. In particular, we will highlight the ways in which prison officials have quickly responded to the pandemic as well as their ongoing efforts to improve the conditions for those incarcerated. (COV-026)
