KEY POINTS:
The scandal-prone Department of Corrections will face fresh questions after revelations a convicted sex offender was arrested while under its watch.
The man is accused of entering a woman's home and abducting her when he was under Corrections supervision.
He was charged with assault and intent to commit sexual violation and is due to stand trial this year.
The development ends a week to forget for Corrections chief executive Barry Matthews, who has refused to resign after a critical report into surveillance of offenders.
Herald on Sunday inquiries reveal Corrections' problems extend beyond those which have been released.
An Employment Relations Authority ruling disagreed with a department submission citing potential political fallout as a reason to reinstate a prison guard.
And the department's own figures reveal violence at Auckland Prison has grown so frequent that inmates are causing themselves and guards physical injuries once every four days.
In the latest case, a man has spent more than a week in hospital with a broken back and a broken arm and needing almost 60 stitches to a head wound.
The sex offender, who the Herald on Sunday is unable to name for legal reasons, has a string of convictions.
He was released in November 2007 but the Parole Board placed him under 24-hour support until May this year. The abduction is alleged to have occurred during that period.
Corrections Minister Judith Collins and Matthews refused to comment yesterday.
But a Corrections spokesman said supervision did not mean the offender was monitored 24 hours a day.
Offenders on a supervision sentence are usually seen by probation staff twice a week during the early stages of the sentence.
Staff continued to visit the offender on a regular basis, including the day of the alleged assault when he was found at his nominated address.
Once alerted of the man's arrest, a case review showed the probation officer followed the correct procedures, the spokesman added.
Adding to Corrections' woes is an Employment Relations Authority decision, issued a fortnight ago.
The ruling concerned reinstating of prison officer of 26 years, Jimmy Gregory, while awaiting a hearing on whether his dismissal was fair.
The 51-year-old was fired from the Auckland Regional Women's Correctional Facility in Manukau on the grounds he breached its code of conduct by being in contact with a prisoner's partner and searching prisoner records without a legitimate purpose.
Corrections argued against his interim reinstatement, including one concern about "potential negative media publicity and political consequences" and exposing "the Minister of Corrections to a question in Parliament about this employment issue and how public money was being spent".
The ERA said they were not valid factors for deciding not to reinstate Gregory but declined his application because he was due to appear before a full hearing soon after.
Meanwhile, Corrections has confirmed there were 14 incidents involving injury at Auckland Prison between December 19 and February 19. Eight involved a prisoner or prisoners assaulting another prisoner and four involved a prisoner assaulting a member of staff.
Six of the incidents were relatively minor, for example a graze or a bleeding nose.
