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The security firm that was transporting Liam Ashley to jail when he was beaten to death by another prisoner last year is understood to be seeking immediate release from its contract with the Corrections Department.
3 News reported last night that Chubb Security wrote to the Corrections Department last Friday seeking immediate release from its contract to provide prisoner transport.
It said the letter was in response to recommendations of an investigation into prisoner transport by the Office of the Ombudsmen, due for release today and expected to condemn prisoner transport arrangements and contain 70 recommendations for changes.
Chief Ombudsman John Belgrave announced the investigation in August after Liam Ashley, 17, was killed by prisoner George Baker in a Chubb van taking them from court to prison.
3 News reported that Chubb was concerned at the cost of putting the recommendations into place. The security firm and Department of Corrections were given draft copies of the findings a month ago.
The report is expected to contain recommendations including separate compartments for prisoners, softer seats and seatbelts.
Baker - who pleaded guilty to strangling Liam Ashley - has appealed to the Court of Appeal against his life sentence for murder.
The Government is also conducting a review and considering options such as waist restraints, separate compartments for each prisoner and a separate compartment for a guard to watch over the inmates.
In April, a prisoner was badly beaten by four others in a prison van on the way to the Waitakere District Court.
The prisoner had asked to be segregated because of safety concerns, but was instead placed with the other inmates. A Corrections Department review cleared its staff and Chubb contractors of any wrongdoing.
