Inmates at Auckland women's prison are helping their loved ones the only way they can, by sewing face masks for their community.
Visits were cancelled for weeks over lockdown, and even now at Alert Level 2.5 families are too scared to visit for fear of bringing Covid-19 into the prison.
So, in a bid to stay connected, many inmates have started sewing masks behind the wire.
“It was terrifying for me because I’m not out there, how do you keep your family safe?” an inmate told 1 NEWS.
Nine women at a time are in the sewing room and there's a waiting list of those who want to be.
“We fill a void, and the girls, even though we are a small team, are doing quite well,” Corrections officer Michelle Jennings says.
The Corrections team has been keen to drive the project as it helps the women feel connected with their families who they've had limited contact with due to Covid-19.
“We want to make sure the women in our in our care maintain the contact with their whānau as much as we can. We've introduced additional phones across the units and video calls and its gone done really well,” prison director Stephen Parr says.
The day's efforts are delivered to social services provider Fonua Ola, which is giving families the masks with food parcels.
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