Amnesty International is calling on the Government to clarify how long prisoners are being locked away in their cells in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The human rights organisation has concerns that those in jail are suffering unfairly due to conditions in place aimed at stopping the spread of coronavirus in prisons.
The organisation says it has received reports that some prisoners are being held in their cells for prolonged periods each day.
"We’re concerned at the moment that prisoners are being kept in their cells for longer than 22 hours without meaningful human interaction - so that amounts to solitary confinement, " Amnesty International New Zealand executive director Meg de Ronde told Newshub.
She says prolonged solitary confinement is prohibited in New Zealand even during national emergencies.
"People need to ensure that they are free from torture and other ill treatments, and being kept in your cell without contact is very problematic psychologically and can be damaging for people in the longer term."
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis has shut down the claims, saying he hasn't heard any reports of it happening.
"Corrections are continuing to ensure that the prisoners receive their minimum entitlements, but we have to realise that if there are some prisoners that aren't getting their minimum entitlements it's not like people are deliberately trying to be mean or deny them their rights," Davis told Newshub.
Davis did, however, admit that prisoners' would have time out of their cells reduced to some degree.
"They'll have shorter unlocked times - probably down to about 90 minutes as opposed to four," he said.
There are almost 10,000 people serving sentences in New Zealand across 19 prisoners. Thirty-two percent of that population is double-bunking, according to the Hui.
In some countries, low-risk prisoners have been released in order to create enough room within jails for social distancing to take place.
But Davis said last month there were no plans to release low-risk prisoners here.
He said the release of prisoners was not a matter for Corrections but for "the courts or the parole boards".
