A bill which aims to assist a prison crackdown on drug use and to eliminate illicit use of cellphones passed into law on Tuesday.
The amendment to the Corrections Act passed by 113 votes to 9 in Parliament.
The Green Party voted against the bill.
The bill was introduced when the Labour Party was in power in 2008 and picked up by the National Government for its final stages.
It adopts a zero tolerance toward staff who pass contraband to prisoners, with penalties increased from three months to up to a year in prison and a doubling of the maximum fine to $5,000.
Though cellphones are currently banned in prison, the new legislation authorises electronic detection of cellphones within prisons.
Corrections Minister Judith Collins says the law will deal a major blow to criminals who have been able to continue running their crime businesses from behind bars and who have used smuggled cellphones to intimidate people on the outside.
