Coroner slams jail firm
Short-staffing, cameras left unmonitored and a failure to provide files to inquest revealed after prison suicide. By Anna Loren.
A coroner who investigated a man’s suicide at an Auckland prison has slammed operator Serco for failing to clear the camera in his cell, which had been obscured for two weeks before he died.
Coroner Debra Bell has also criticised the company and the Department of Corrections for failing to provide evidence that would have helped her investigation.
Father-of-three Wayne Hotton killed himself on September 6, 2014 while on remand in Mt Eden Corrections Facility.
The 45-year-old, who was facing drugs charges, would have taken ‘‘a number of days’’ to make preparations for his suicide, Bell’s report, released this week, said.
At the time of Hotton’s death, the prison was run by Serco under a public-private partnership. Corrections took back control of the facility 10 months later following revelations of ‘‘fight clubs’’.
Bell found the prison had been short-staffed for 15 months in the lead-up to the Auckland man’s death. His cell had also not been searched for 25 days. However, Serco said its contract required only quarterly searches.
The report also found the camera in Hotton’s cell had been ‘‘completely obscured’’ after he smeared a substance, probably toothpaste, over it 15 days before he died.
‘‘This should have immediately alerted prison authorities,’’ Bell said.
She found the combination of staff shortages, lack of cell searches and the obscured camera ‘‘provided opportunity to Mr Hotton to prepare for his suicide without his actions being detected earlier’’.
She noted the prison’s former management staff were no longer employed by Serco, and the company’s lawyers had advised it had ‘‘not been possible to provide information from those people’’ for the inquest.
Corrections was also unable to locate Hotton’s original prison and medical files. Consequently, ‘‘the evidence available on matters relevant to my determination was limited’’.
She made no recommendations, saying Corrections had made a number of changes, including more frequent cell searches and increased staffing levels.
Hotton’s partner, Casey Harwood, said it was ‘‘really bizarre’’ that the obscured camera had not been fixed by prison staff.
‘‘That’s a bit questionable, considering [Serco is] supposed to be a multinational company ... They should know how to run a prison.’’
She hoped the company would take the report on board: ‘‘I really hope it does change something.’’
A Serco spokesperson said the company accepted the coroner’s findings but did not answer questions about the lack of information provided to the inquest.