Riot effects still felt at Waikeria
HAMILTON: Prison management say Waikeria’s remaining inmates are enduring damaged phone systems in the fallout from the riot at the Waikato highsecurity complex.
The longest, most destructive New Zealand riot in decades broke out at the 110yearold building known as the ‘‘top jail’’ on December 29.
The Department of Corrections said damage to Waikeria’s infrastructure, including the prisoner payphone system, was reverberating a month after the unrest ended.
‘‘We are working urgently to resolve these issues, but can provide assurance that all people in prison in other units are safe and well,’’ Corrections analyst Robert Jones said.
These parts of Waikeria housed low and mediumsecurity prisoners.
‘‘Staff are working hard to enable individuals to make calls from other phones on site, but there is a significant demand,’’ Mr Jones added.
He said after the destruction, the department tried to ensure a return to normality by reinstating visits and installing additional phones.
About 200 inmates were evacuated from the top jail, which was uninhabitable.
A new 500bed facility, with an extra 100bed mental health section, was under construction at Waikeria and due for completion next year.
Mr Jones said before the unrest erupted, authorities recognised the top jail, opened in 1911, was unfit to meet staff or inmate needs.
Corrections also outlined when two riot reviews were expected to conclude.
The first, by the department’s chief custodial officer, should be done by March 31 and the second, from the chief inspector, should be completed by October 31.
Several groups have called for an independent review.
The highsecurity complex was criticised in an ombudsman’s report last year.
The report found many men in the top jail were doublebunked in cells meant for one person, living conditions were poor, and violence was rampant.
Tania Sawicki Mead, director of justice reform group JustSpeak, said that damning report showed prisoners probably had at least some legitimate concerns about Waikeria conditions.
‘‘That should put a lot of naysayers to rest on this.’’
But she said civil society groups and the Human Rights Commission were not given the chance to take part in any investigation of the December 29January 3 unrest.
Ms Sawicki Mead said Corrections already used loaded language describing Waikeria events, such as by labelling the unrest a ‘‘riot’’.
She said prisoners and their whanau might perceive the events very differently.
She was not persuaded the two reviews would be impartial or thorough.
Amnesty International has called for an independent review, as has prison reformist Sir Kim Workman and former police crisis negotiator Lance Burdett.
The Corrections Association, representing prison staff, also said last month it would welcome an independent review.
In a document circulated online, prisoners reportedly complained of filthy drinking water and having to eat from paper bags next to open, shared toilets.
Taimana Norton Soames (25) appeared in the Auckland District Court last week, charged with being a member of a riot and unlawfully damaging prison property.
He was also accused, along with 16 other men, of arson, aggravated burglary, rioting and riotous damage.
In court documents, Soames and 16 other men were accused of entering part of the jail illegally, using a steel pole, wooden seat and ‘‘specialised breaching tool’’ as weapons.
Soames entered no pleas and was remanded in custody to February 5, when he is expected to appear with other accused men at the Hamilton District Court. — The New Zealand Herald