KEY POINTS:
The Corrections Department is investigating claims that bribery and fraud are rife at one of the country's biggest prisons.
The allegations say officers are in the pockets of gangs and prisoners have unlimited access to drugs.
The claims have been made by former prison officers Ingrid and Mark
Rijniers, who were recruited from Holland to work at Rimutaka Prison in Wellington.
They lasted a month in a high-medium security unit that they describe as an environment of corruption and constant death threats.
And in a series of allegations handed to the Corrections Department and the Weekend Herald, they claim prison officers not only failed to address problems, but lined their pockets with gang money.
"Nobody told us about the gangs, that they control the place, " said Mrs Rijniers, who left the prison in July.
"Prisoners just give an order list to an officer: money, mobile phones, P, cocaine, marijuana, all kinds of drugs, you name it.
"I was offered money from prisoners to bring mobile phones in, P, everything. I refused, and they abused me. My life was threatened many times.
"Staff are so afraid of the gang members. Prison officers are attacked many times by prisoners, and some of them provoke prisoners. "
Corrections chief executive Barry Matthews confirmed last night that an investigation was under way.
"At this stage we've got no other evidence, apart from what she's alleged," he said. "We'll carry on because there are a number of serious allegations."
He admitted it was not unusual for prisoners to try to bribe staff to bring in contraband, nor for drugs to be in the 754-capacity men's prison, though neither scenario was desired.
Of 1043 drug tests in Rimutaka in the year to June, 12 per cent tested positive. Most were for marijuana and 14 instances were for P.
Mr Matthews said investigations into staff for bringing drugs into prison occurred "from time to time", but he was not aware of any subsequent criminal prosecutions.
He did not believe the Rijniers' bribery and fraud claims were true.
The couple - who have 24 years' experience as prison guards in Holland - outlined incidents of fraud, where staff signed off cell-searches and prisoner-searches that never took place.
"In the time I worked in this unit, not once was a cell search done," said Mrs Rijniers." But every day they filled in the form ... they even filled in my name. I told them I didn't want that because that's fraud."
Mr Matthews said allegations were easy to make, but hard to investigate "unless they provide some detail, and they've not done that".
Without names or dates of incidents, the investigation had centred on documents and talking to Rimutaka staff.
The president of the Howard League for Penal Reform, Peter Williams, QC, said the allegations showed the need for the prison system to be overhauled.
Dr Greg Newbold, a Canterbury University criminologist who spent time behind bars in the 1970s, said corruption was a potential threat at every prison.