Sponge bullets fired during prison standoff

Te Aorewa Rolleston Te Aniwa Hurihanganui — RNZ

This story was originally published on RNZ.co.nz and is republished with permission.

Officers fired sponge rounds at the men on the roof of the burning high-security building during the standoff at Waikeria Prison, police have confirmed to

The remaining 16 inmates protesting over dilapidated conditions and Corrections’ strategy for Ma¯ ori, surrendered to the authorities on Sunday after six tense days.

Corrections has launched two reviews into what happened. Noone was seriously injured. Wha¯ nau members of two of the men both received phone calls from their relatives who told them they were hit by the projectiles used by armed forces.

Jamie Waea said her partner, currently placed at Paremoremo Prison, told her he had been shot.

‘‘He said that he was shot from the rubber bullet . . . It was quite distressing when I was speaking with him at the time, you could just hear all this banging and yelling,’’ Waea said.

Police told RNZ that sponge rounds were used during the standoff at Waikeria Prison, in order to protect Corrections and police staff. The rounds are a nonlethal tactical option available to the Armed Offenders Squad (AOS) and the Special Tactics Group (STG), police said. Waea said her partner had been wounded during the shooting.

‘‘I didn’t hear from him for a while, I didn’t know that he had been hurt,’’ Waea said.

A second wha¯ nau member was in contact with her relative last Friday evening and was concerned when she heard ‘two big bangs’ in the background of the conversation. She said her relative told her the men were being shot at before hanging up the phone.

The following day the wha¯ nau member said her relative told her he had been shot by rubber bullets and was injured.

‘‘He just said, ‘I’ve got to go,

I’ve got to go, they’re shooting at us’. I just said be safe, be careful. He let me know that he had been hit by rubber bullets, he couldn’t breathe properly and he sounded really scared, he said he was sore,’’ said the wha¯ nau member.

In the statement, police said the rounds were for use in highrisk situations where people were likely to harm themselves or others. Sponge rounds were cylinder pellets with a plastic casing and a blunt, dense rubber tip, that are designed not to enter the skin.