Deputy director one of prison staff suspended
Five staff at Wellington’s Rimutaka Prison, including the deputy director, have been suspended for alleged misconduct.
Corrections placed the staff on ‘‘special leave’’ yesterday as a result of information gathered by police involved in a long-running corruption investigation, dubbed Operation Portia.
Chief Custodial Officer Neil Beales said information provided by police since November 2020 had led to an internal inquiry into the actions of 10 prison staff, including managers.
One of those people had previously resigned, and a further five were placed on ‘‘special leave’’. The final four would be spoken to shortly, Beales said. It is thought they too will be placed on special leave.
Stuff has learned the prison’s deputy director Steve Morgan is among those under scrutiny.
The allegations under review include introducing contraband (including food and cellphones), workplace bullying, failure to follow procedures critical to the safety and security of the prison, failure to maintain professional boundaries and inappropriately accessing prisoner information. None of the allegations are of a sexual nature.
‘‘We will not tolerate this type of behaviour in our prisons. We expect a high standard of conduct from all employees. The nature of our work means we must act beyond reproach at all times,’’ Beales said.
Operation Portia is an ongoing investigation into suspected staff corruption at Rimutaka Prison.
It was launched in June 2020 after an inmate at the jail allegedly arranged the trafficking of methamphetamine into New Zealand from behind bars using illicit cellphones.
The suspected offending is thought to have been enabled by
corrupt guards, who received payments for allowing contraband, which includes cellphones, drugs and tobacco, to be smuggled into the prison.
No-one has yet been charged with corruption-related offending as a result of the inquiry, which has been led by the police’s National Organised Crime Group.
‘‘A number of matters are with the Wellington Crown Solicitor for assessment,’’ a police spokesperson said yesterday.
Before a person can be prosecuted for a corruption offence, the Crown needs the approval of the attorney general.
As part of Operation Portia, detectives have spoken to more than 100 Rimutaka Prison staff.
Information those staff provided, which was outside the scope of the corruption investigation, ‘‘resulted in two other phases of work’’, the prison director told staff last year.
The National Organised Crime Group had referred lower level crimes, such as assault, to a team of Wellington district police to investigate.
The second phase ‘‘relates to information regarding noncriminal workplace conduct that is of a concerning nature’’.
Beales said work was ongoing at Rimutaka Prison to ‘‘strengthen our culture, ensure professional standards of behaviour are consistently followed and maintained, improve our practice, and strengthen our overall management of people in prison.