Corrections is about to introduce new electronic monitoring bracelets that Judith Collins says are "almost impossible" to remove without "taking off your leg" with them.
There will be about 200 of the new devices rolled out at the end of July -- they've been specially designed by Corrections to be hard to remove and they'll only be used for high risk offenders.
Corrections Minister Judith Collins said the new ones are unlikely to be able to be cut off without the help of a chainsaw -- which she says is quite dangerous.
"So they have a choice, leg or no leg," she said.
The department came under fire last year after convicted child rapist Daniel Livingstone cut his bracelet off and went on the run for 40 hours before police could track him down.
Tony Robertson, the man convicted of raping and killing Auckland woman Blessie Gotingco, also had a GPS monitoring bracelet on at the time of her death.
Then Story exposed that a cheap pair of scissors was all offenders needed to get these monitoring devices off and head on the run.
"I said to Corrections when we realised that there was this problem with these bracelets being able to be cut off, I've said 'well, you need to get something that's not able to be cut off'," Collins said.
So do the new devices stand up to the minister's request?
Newshub took a pair of cheap scissors to the minister and challenged her to try and cut them.
Ms Collins was able to cut through the old devices with ease
And when she had a crack at the new ones, it looked for a moment that she was going to have to go back to the drawing board -- they seemed to able to be cut through too.
But after making it through the rubber layer -- the devices now have a sturdy wire which couldn't be snapped.
So are they safer? Take a look at the video and see for yourself.
Newshub.
