Prisoners call for help as food and water runs short
Prisoners in control of a section of Waikeria Prison called on Ma¯ori Party MP Rawiri Waititi to offer help, as the riot at the facility reached the end of its third day.
The group of 17 appeared to be getting desperate for food and water, after negotiators withheld both to starve the group out.
Waititi told Stuff that he was more than willing to assist in what he referred to as a judicial ‘‘revolution’’.
‘‘I’m quite happy to have that discussion with them and quite happy to advocate for them, ensuring that we settle not only them, the wha¯nau inside, but also the wha¯nau outside,’’ he said.
‘‘If they are being treated inhumanly we’ve got to make sure their issues are addressed.’’
Earlier, Department of Corrections staff made arrangements to allow the 17 inmates to speak with kauma¯tua.
‘‘An operation involving support from our Advanced Control and Restraint staff was planned to enable this to happen safely,’’ the department said in a statement. ‘‘However, [it] did not resolve the situation.’’
Waititi said he was not surprised by the inmates’ claims of ‘‘inhuman’’ treatment at Waikeria Prison, including brown drinking water and bedding going unchanged for six months.
However, he believed there was a deeper issue at play.
‘‘Fifty per cent of the male prison population are Ma¯ori and 64 per cent of the female population in prison are Ma¯ori – that’s the highest percent for any indigenous population. That’s unacceptable.’’
He said both prisons and the system were outdated.
‘‘It’s racist and the system needs a huge transformation. We need by Ma¯ori to Ma¯ori for Ma¯ori solutions. Kaupapa Ma¯ori-driven solutions to look at the best result for our wha¯nau.’’
A former offender turned antiprison activist, Leslie Orchard, also agrees that the riot was built on years of injustice.
Described as New Zealand’s most prolific fraudster, Orchard has ‘‘done his time’’ in prisons across the country. Waikeria was one of the worst, he said.
‘‘This situation has been going on for years and it has taken something like this protest to bring it all out in the open.’’
Orchard said he first went to Waikeria Prison in 1984 and was shocked by the treatment and ‘‘decrepit state’’ of the cells.
‘‘I know exactly what they [the group of 17] are going through asking for toilet paper. I’ve been there, done that,’’ Orchard said.
‘‘You wouldn’t put your dog in those cells, that’s how bad it is.’’
The Department of Corrections confirmed yesterday that nothing at the Waikato prison had changed overnight.
Stuff understands that members of the Comancheros and Mongols gangs were among the group still rioting. Numerous members of both gangs were arrested this year after multiple crime operations from police in the Bay of Plenty.
The potential for a four-day standstill concerns former police negotiator Lance Burdett, who believes the ‘‘longer the wait the worse the outcome’’.
He said the negotiators’ current tactics of starving prisoners out often doesn’t work, particularly in prisons. Instead, it just fuels frustrations.
He believes an independent review would be the best tactic, but said extracting the prisoners may be Corrections’ only option, which meant people were more ‘‘likely to get hurt’’.
A Corrections spokesperson said yesterday that Fire and Emergency New Zealand, police and St John Ambulance staff remained at the prison.
The unrest kicked off about 2pm on Tuesday when fires were lit in the ‘‘top jail’’ facility in an exercise yard.