Corrections says mistakes made; Marks calls for heads to roll

UPDATE - The Corrections Department today admitted it made serious mistakes in handling Paparua Prison's former "goon squad" which it regretted and had learnt lessons from.

The State Services Commission today released a damning report into the department's response to allegations of inappropriate behaviour by the Canterbury Emergency Response Unit (CERU), dubbed the "goon squad".

The report found there was no clear line of accountability, enabling the unit to develop an "inappropriate militaristic culture".

Corrections chief executive Mark Byers today welcomed the report which he said confirmed many of the department's own conclusions.

"As this report and our own findings concluded, serious mistakes were made regarding management and oversight of the CERU," he said in a statement.

"We also accept that the CERU breached requirements and fell short of expected standards for the management of inmates."

The rogue unit was disbanded in June 2000 after only 12 months amid complaints of bullying from inmates and militaristic treatment of its members.

The inquiry was commissioned last year by Corrections Minister Paul Swain after political pressure from Opposition members and prison critics.

Mr Byers said the department had made changes to address inmate management issues arising from the CERU, including new instructions for strip searching, use of handcuffs and a complete review of use of control and restraint procedures.

He said there was also a new regional management structure, a risk management framework for national reporting and monitoring, a new finance and administration structure, leadership and management development programmes and quality assurance.

Senior managers had been held accountable for the management failures associated with the unit and had been financially penalised, Mr Byers said.

The report would be thoroughly reviewed to assess whether any further matters still needed to be addressed, he said.

"There were clearly areas for improvement in the way the matter was handled. This is regretted and the lessons learnt."

Mr Swain said today he hoped the report closed a "very sorry episode" and the department could move forward.

"Managing prisons is difficult and every day corrections officers around the country carry out their duties professionally in often trying circumstances," he said in a statement.

The department would report back to the minister within six months after it had reviewed the report, Mr Swain said.

New Zealand First law and order spokesman Ron Mark today called for heads to roll, starting with the resignation of Mr Swain as minister.

A question remained whether Mr Byers, who announced his resignation last month, "jumped or was pushed", he said.

Department general manager Phil McCarthy should also resign and Christchurch prison management needed "entirely gutting" through the resignation of South Island regional manager Paul Monk and Canterbury Prisons operations manager Paul Rushton.

"There is no place in the public service for people who act outside the law, use their position of authority to abuse people, harass people, and then seek to use the system to protect themselves by launching a series of inadequate, inappropriate investigations whose purpose was only really to whitewash the situation," he told NZPA.

Massive compensation payments to inmates -- such as a $310,000 award earlier this year to five criminals for mistreatment in solitary confinement -- were the result of the department being run by managers who "flagrantly ignore the law, ignore their responsibilities, who are incompetent and incapable".

"It's got to finish," Mr Mark said.

United Future law and order spokesman Marc Alexander said today the report failed to follow through.

"We really don't have accountability in this country today and the public are badly served for that fact."

- NZPA