Staffer sanctioned for prison relationship
Corrections is being accused of a coverup after disciplining a staff member for an inappropriate relationship with a convicted murderer.
The Rimutaka Prison staffer reportedly wrote the inmate letters, sought gifts from him and provided ‘‘unapproved items’’ over the course of a year. The inmate, who was employed as a cleaner in the Upper Hutt prison’s administration building, alleges he witnessed her being fondled by a male staff member at the prison.
The prisoner claimed his paid employment and privileges were stripped after he revealed the female staff member’s actions to prison management.
The prisoner’s lawyer, Michael Bott, said Corrections was withholding a report which vindicated his client in an ‘‘arse-covering’’ exercise.
An initial internal review cleared staff of any wrongdoing, but a subsequent employment investigation found the woman had developed an inappropriate relationship with the prisoner and provided him unapproved craft materials.
‘‘What you’re seeing here is a classic departmental cover-up . . . If they’re so cock-sure about this then they should have no hesitation in releasing that report,’’ Bott said.
Stuff has chosen not to name the prisoner, who is serving a life sentence, due to privacy concerns.
In a written statement for a July 2017 internal review, the prisoner described having daily coffee breaks with the staffer while working as a cleaner in early 2016. She began telling the prisoner ‘‘sad stories’’ about her children, exhusband, and other relationships.
She then began writing the prisoner letters, and asked for them in return. By August 2016, some 30 letters had been exchanged and she indicated she had feelings for the prisoner.
‘‘I felt threatened and manipulated. [The staffer] would come and get me if I didn’t go to her office, I felt I had to do what I was asked as I thought if I didn’t I would lose my job.’’
As the relationship escalated, the woman prompted the prisoner to carve her wooden gifts.
She gave the prisoner tubes of paint and a bag of velour material. The prisoner found out she took a carving home, and gifted two carved hooks to her sons for Christmas.
‘‘I thought those carvings were for inside the prison, otherwise I wouldn’t have done this.’’
After Christmas, he went for an hourly muster check at the administration building and allegedly saw a male staff member and the woman kissing, with the man’s hand in the crotch of the staffer.
The prisoner was noticed, and quickly left. Tensions simmered until February 2017, when the prisoner claimed he was confronted by the woman about rumours spreading through the prison.
‘‘I told her I was going to go and talk to somebody as I couldn’t put up with her treating me like this.’’
Both approached prison managers panicked. The prisoner lost his job and walking privileges that day. Corrections has redacted evidence provided by staff for the review, which found the prisoner had become overly familiar with staff. Corrections declined interview requests, but in a statement national commissioner Rachel Leota said both the male staff member and the woman denied the allegations. ‘‘The prisoner has consistently attributed his dismissal to his disclosure about the incident that he alleges he witnessed. This is incorrect, and has been explained to him on multiple occasions.’’
Leota said Corrections afterwards became aware a prison manager failed to declare a ‘‘conflict of interest’’, but did not specify the conflict. An employment investigation into the administration staffer was also conducted, ‘‘for an inappropriate relationship with a prisoner, demonstrated through the introduction of unapproved items (craft materials) into the prison’’.
‘‘Appropriate sanctions were administered in relation to both events.’’
She said two reports into the matter differed in scope and were not comparable. ‘‘This other report has findings completely at odds with the patsy report. Which is probably why they’re embarrassed to release the findings.’’