The Corrections Department says it has no idea how long 87 prisoners from Christchurch will stay at the Otago Corrections Facility.
Some of the transferred prisoners were high security - the OCF is a low to medium-security prison - but the appropriate assessments had been done and no prisoners' safety was compromised, a spokeswoman said yesterday.
The 87 male prisoners were taken to OCF by bus on Tuesday, after Saturday's quake damaged the Christchurch Men's Prison.
By the end of today, nearly 650 prisoners will have been evacuated from Christchurch Men's and Women's prisons.
Acting manager service support Lance Alexander said yesterday Corrections did not know how long prisoners would be accommodated outside of Christchurch.
"Our focus is on inspecting and assessing any damage to the prisons there, cleaning up and restoring affected infrastructure.
We are not willing to add further pressure to emergency services in Christchurch by placing prisoners back in Christchurch without assurance that the sites are safe and secure.
"Along with the Corrections and Public Service Associations, we are also focused on supporting our staff in Christchurch who have suffered damage or losses at home as a result of the earthquake. Reduced numbers of prisoners to manage provides them with the ability to focus on events at home."
The number of prisoners at the 485-bed OCF was not available yesterday, but no prison would exceed maximum operating capacity, Mr Alexander said.
If needed, police and the Courts Department would house newly-remanded prisoners.
