Our most recent guest speaker will have made many in the audience think. It certainly did me.

New Zealand has a relatively high imprisonment rate compared to other OECD countries, with around 200 prisoners per 100,000 of the population.  This is significantly higher than the OECD average of around 147, and exceeding rates in Australia and England/Wales. It's a lot higher than many of the countries our exchange students come from and from the countries we would most like to compare ourselves to , for example Austria [101]. France [ 115] Germany [68] and Finland [52]. On the positive side it's much lower than the United States 541.  The reasons for our incarceration rate will be many and varied but I suspect that many in the audience were both surprised by the conditions in the facility, the obvious aim to prevent further reoffending and the low rates of recidivism.