The Chief Ombudsman has not been able to get into prisons to check on conditions during the pandemic despite grave concerns about extended lockdown hours - and the fact that he has a statutory monitoring role.
Peter Boshier says Corrections hasn't gone as far as blocking him doing his job but has certainly discouraged him.
That is about to change and next week - for the first time since the lockdown - his staff are going into prisons to check out what is going on.
He spoke to RNZ's Guyon Espiner, who began by asking him about his concerns about prison conditions during the pandemic.
