Violence warning after prison assault

Razor fence at the Hawke's Bay Prison, Hastings. Photo: Glenn Taylor

A Hawke's Bay Prison inmate is fighting for his life after being attacked by fellow prisoners at the weekend.

While the man was "seriously assaulted" in the incident on Saturday and remained in a critical condition last night, the locally-based head of the Corrections Association says the potential for more inmate violence at the prison is being fuelled by a reduction in work leave and more lock-down time at the facility.

Beven Hanlon, the Hawke's Bay-based lead advocate and organiser for the Corrections Association, which represents prison officers, said the weekend incident highlighted the dangers faced by prison staff.

Mr Hanlon, who spent 17 years working at Hawke's Bay Prison, said the risk of violence at the jail had been exacerbated by increased use of the "restrictive" regime which involved inmates spending more time locked in their cells. A crackdown on work release, in the wake of the high-profile flight of prisoner Phillip Smith last year, was also adding to tensions at the jail, he said.

"Some of these prisoners have been going out for years without problems and now they're locked in their units. That builds up frustrations. Add that to the other frustrations and we're going to get problems. When we lock prisoners up because we don't want to pay overtime, the number of these sorts of incidents rise, it's just how it works," he said.

The low-security unit where the attack took place was cleared of prisoners while police carried out investigations at the prison yesterday.

Prison manager George Massingham said the department expected criminal charges would be laid against the perpetrators of the attack. A police spokesperson said inmates were interviewed by officers yesterday in relation to the incident. Charges had yet to be laid.

Mr Massingham said Corrections had a zero tolerance policy toward prisoner assaults.

"We manage some of New Zealand's most difficult and challenging citizens. Therefore, violence can be a risk as many offenders resort to this behaviour as a means of resolving issues and of expressing themselves," he said.

The prison, on Mangaroa Rd southwest of Hastings, has capacity to house up to 682 minimum to high-security male inmates.

In January an inmate died at the prison after staff found him in his cell in an unresponsive state and were unable to revive him.

Police said at the time that they did not consider it suspicious and had referred it to the Coroner.