Government takes over Akld prison

The Government is taking over the management of Mt Eden prison as of Monday, after serious allegations of prisoner mistreatment at the Serco-run facility.

Serco staff will remain on site but a management team will be put in place to oversee the day to day running of the facility.

The decision comes after a series of allegations at the Mt Eden prison, where inmates are claimed to have been thrown off balconies in a practice known as ‘‘dropping’’, and physically assaulted.

Corrections Minister Sam Lotu-Iiga met with Corrections chief executive Ray Smith yesterday to discuss what action should be taken.

After the meeting Smith said he was invoking the ‘‘step-in’’ clause in the contract with Serco.

Smith said Dennis Goodin, manager of the prison at Tongariro, would head the team taking over the day-to-day running of Mt Eden.

The management staff would be ‘‘a crack team’’ of as many as 20 people selected from around the country.

The cost of the ‘‘step-in’’ would be incurred by Serco, and ‘‘substantial’’ financial penalties were possible.

The company has already been fined $300,000 over its operation of private prisons.

Other options available under the contract included issuing a final warning, or early termination.

The break date of Serco’s contract was 2016, but Lotu-Iiga would not be drawn on whether it would be ended then.

Smith said he would await the outcome of the Chief Inspector’s review, which would look at safety and violence issues, before proceeding further.

He considered that Serco’s management of the facility was ‘‘salvageable’’.

Smith was confident that ‘‘we will fix it, we will get answers’’ once the management team was in place. Lotu-Iiga supported Smith’s decision. Safety of prisoners and staff was paramount.

‘‘Rest assured we will get to the bottom of this and we will fix it,’’ Lotu-Iiga said.

Lotu-Iiga denied the move was one of ‘‘no confidence’’ in Serco, which would continue to run the Wiri prison.

After meeting with Serco on Thursday, Lotu-Iiga had received an undertaking that there were no more allegations or incidents to report.

Just hours later, Smith issued a statement saying he felt he must consider taking ‘‘firmer steps’’ to ensure the safety of prisoners and staff, after a third prisoner made allegations of mistreatment at the Serco-run facility.

That prisoner had been transferred out of Mt Eden this week, and arrived at another facility with injuries making serious allegations of violence at the correctional facility.

Smith said video footage had been crucial for investigations in the prison, and he had seen things that were ‘‘really disturbing’’. Other allegations have included that a prisoner was pushed off a balcony, resulting in broken legs. Corrections said an investigation concluded that inmate ‘‘fell’’ from a balcony.