New Ministry of Justice projections forecast a 35 percent growth in New Zealand's prison population over the next ten years, with those kept in remand - people who have been charged but not convicted, or convicted but not sentenced - set to swell by nearly fifty percent.

Asher Emanuel, a public lawyer and author of bestselling book The Valley: Crime and Punishment in a New Zealand City, says the trend doesn't necessarily reflect more crime, but a deliberate policy decision to put more people in prison.

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