Former Mt Eden remand prison inmate Alex Littleton is suing Serco New Zealand for half a million dollars, claiming the private prison manager was derelict in its duty of care, enabling two assaults on him, one of which saw him pushed over a balcony breaking both of his legs.
The attack on Littleton was made public in 2015 by Labour Party corrections spokesman Kelvin Davis after the discovery of video footage showing organised fighting groups at Mt Eden Correctional Facility triggered an investigation into Serco's management of the remand prison which ultimately saw the multinational outsourcing company lose the contract.
Littleton's claim emerged in a July 7 ruling on whether the former inmate needed to provide security for costs and outlining the extent of discovery available in his suit. The judgment was recently published on the Ministry of Justice's website.
The former inmate is seeking exemplary damages totalling $500,000 from Serco, claiming the company was "negligent and in breach of duties of care it owed to him" by letting a "dominant culture of violence" take hold in the prison and providing inadequate supervision to prevent prisoner-on-prisoner violence.
Littleton also claims the unlock periods didn't allow easy supervision, that there wasn't adequate CCTV monitoring, that contraband searches and strategies to reduce violence were inadequate, that Serco didn't manage the influence of gangs in the prison, was ineffective in its management of his rehabilitation after the attacks and threatened him if he didn't let Serco discuss his affairs in the media.