Survivors in prison
The Survivor Experiences Service removes barriers to enable survivors in prison to tell their stories of abuse of care.
We understand that having an opportunity to tell their story, and be listened to, can be an essential step in the recovery and rehabilitation for people in prison.
If you have contact with someone in prison who might want to engage with the service, you can share this information with them.
On this page:
- How to share their experiences
- Monitoring of information
- The service needs to engage with Corrections
- More information
How to share their experiences
Survivors in prison can use the Corrections Prisoner Telephone System (CPTS) and dial ACCESS CODE 63 to contact us (8:30am – 4:30pm Monday – Friday).
They can choose how to share their experiences - kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face), or in writing.
Private sessions will be held at prison sites if their preferred option is face-to-face. There will be no Corrections staff in the room when survivors are sharing their experiences – the private session will be recorded as per our standard process for all survivors, and the survivor can request a transcript (typed copy) of the session.
Survivors can also share their experience in written form, using a Written Account booklet (see link below to download, or we can send one to the survivor). They can send their completed booklet by freepost mail to us. Corrections staff may check the contents of the envelope as part of general security measures. Survivors should speak to our Contact & Support Centre before starting a written account to discuss any potential support that may be needed, and how to send mail (free).
The Department of Corrections is allowed to monitor phone calls and prisoner mail under the provisions of the Corrections Act.
Survivors in prison should consider how much private or sensitive information they share on the phone or in writing to us.
A private session face-to-face will be the only time incarcerated survivors will be completely private.
The Service needs to engage with Corrections
We will need to talk to Corrections to ensure we can visit survivors for a private session. Incarcerated survivors will need to ‘consent’ (verbally on the phone) to allow us to do this. We will not share any personal information that survivors share with us – the only details shared between us and Corrections will be name, PRN or DOB, and the prison the survivor is residing in.
Survivors in prison can find more information about our Service on the prison kiosk, from fact sheets and posters in their prison, or by calling the Service. People supporting someone in prison can also visit our For Survivors webpage.