Value of Waikeria prison written down by millions after riot

WELLINGTON: The extensive damage caused by rioting inmates at Waikeria Prison early this year forced the Government to accept a multimilliondollar writedown of the jail.

In May, four months after the riots, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis received a report from officials, outlining the costs of the rampage.

For six days over the New Year, at least 17 inmates rioted causing widespread damage at the prison.

The men responsible for the destruction, who could face more prison time, said they were protesting conditions at the jail, a claim Mr Davis rejected at the time.

The report, obtained under the Official Information Act, does not explicitly give the cost of the destruction; that part has been redacted. But it does reveal the cost of writing off the damaged parts of the prison, due to a financial protocol.

Ministers need to specifically signoff ‘‘proposals to dispose of assets with a carrying value of between $15 million and $25 million’’. The report showed Mr Davis agreed to the cost of the writeoff.

The report listed buildings damaged by the riots, and how much the writeoff would cost for each one, although this has also been redacted.

National corrections spokesman Simeon Brown said this is an incredibly large cost, which could have been avoided if Mr Davis had acted sooner and more strongly.

Mr Davis said the ‘‘silver lining’’ was a new prison the Government was building just 800m down the road.

‘‘The prison was going to be decommissioned and demolished, anyway.’’ —