Assaults on staff rock new jail

Auckland Prison’s new maximum security wing has been rocked by serious assaults in its first three months of operation.

The $300 million facility at the prison in Paremoremo on Auckland’s North Shore was opened in July, but inmates weren’t moved there until October. Since then, five staff have been injured in two attacks.

Violence first erupted at the wing in late December, when four Corrections Officers were injured in an attack by four inmates.

Corrections Association organiser Beven Hanlon said there was a further assault at the unit on Friday. A Corrections Officer was punched twice in the head.

The offending inmate’s family had turned up late to a special visit and had to be turned away. When the officer was helping the inmate reschedule another visit, the inmate suddenly turned on him, Hanlon said.

He said both of the attacks could be put down to relaxed protocols at the new wing, where maximum-security prisoners were being given the same privileges as lower-security ones.

‘‘Management appear to be more worried about prisoners’ rehabilitation than staff safety,’’ Hanlon said. ‘‘They’ve tried to give these maximum security prisoners a whole lot of time out of their cells. Five hours a day, they’re hanging out in bunches of four or five, working out what mischief they can get up to and how they can assault people. These days, guys run competitions to see how many staff they can assault in a month.’’

Hanlon said that in the December incident, the prisoners had figured out that one of the doors in the unit opened wider than the others, allowing more than one person through at a time. So they rushed the prison staff on duty.

None of the injured staff had returned to work.

Neil Beales, Corrections acting deputy national commissioner, said the four staff members were not seriously injured, but there was no indication of when they would return to work.

‘‘The prisoners responsible for the assaults on staff in both incidents have been segregated, and we are working with police to ensure that they are held to account through criminal prosecution,’’ Beales said.

The new facility, which replaced the prison’s 50-year-old East Division, had provided ‘‘significantly safer conditions’’ for staff and prisoners, he said.

‘‘The reality is the threat of violence is something we cannot eliminate entirely, but we do everything possible to minimise this risk.’’

Maximum security prisoners were given opportunities for exercise, access to visitors, mail, telephone calls and other entitlements in accordance with the Corrections Act.

Beales said during unlock periods, prisoners were generally able to have contact with other prisoners of similar security classification, but they were closely monitored.

The construction of the 260-place wing was announced by the Government in 2013 and the prison was built under a publicprivate partnership deal. It includes the country’s first ‘‘sensory garden’’ for inmates.

Auckland Prison is New Zealand’s only maximum security facility for male prisoners.