Prison officer defends pepper spraying distressed inmate, says he feared towel could be used as a weapon

The incident happened in a high-needs unit of Mt Eden prison nearly two years ago.

A prison officer accused of assaulting a distressed inmate in a mental health unit by pepper spraying him as he backed away has defended his actions by saying the man could have used his towel as a weapon.

The officer is on trial in the Auckland District Court and denies one charge of assault arising from the April 2022 incident at Mt Eden prison, captured on his body camera in confronting footage played to the jury.

He and the complainant have interim name suppression through trial. On Wednesday, the man took to the witness box to give evidence in his own defence.

Crown prosecutor Kristy Li said his actions were an unnecessary and disproportionate use of force.

His lawyer Petrina Stokes said he was justified in deploying the pepper spray and was only acting in accordance with his training amid difficult circumstances.

Under questioning from Stokes, the man said he had become a Corrections officer in 2020 after nearly two decades in an unrelated job because he was seeking a new challenge.

The man said he underwent three months of training, including a day-long pepper spray course, before starting work as an officer in Mt Eden Corrections Facility.

“I was very proud because it’s the first time I’ve ever graduated from anything,” he said.

He eventually moved into the Intervention and Support Unit (ISU), a section of the remand prison for high-risk inmates. Many in the ISU have mental health issues and are at risk of harming themselves.

The officer said he received no particular prior training for working with prisoners with mental health issues, and had no prior experience with the mentally ill.

“I have had no experience whatsoever dealing with mental health issues with any person. It’s the first time I have actually seen that in someone,” the officer said.

“I was provided with no training, it was all on-the-job training. You turn up to work and that’s pretty much it.”

The alleged assault happened in the ISU on the morning of April 5 following a dispute over the use of a towel.

The inmate was having a shower in the ISU supervised by two Corrections officers before he was handed two towels.

Mt Eden prison holds mostly remand inmates and has a high turnover, sometimes housing nearly 1000 prisoners.

As the inmate left the shower, he handed one towel to an officer while the other was around his waist. He then walked to a trolley and picked up another towel to wipe his face and hair.

At this point, the man on trial, who was on his second shift as a senior corrections officer overseeing other guards, approached the prisoner and asked him to hand back the towels.

ISU prisoners are not allowed to take towels to their cells because of the risk they could use them to harm themselves.

Footage from the incident shows the officers converging on the man, who is backing away and does not make any moves towards the staff.

They repeatedly yell at him “drop on your knees”. The officer on trial yells “if you don’t drop on your knees I’ll spray you” in an increasingly loud voice as he advances on the prisoner.

“Drop on your knees, drop on your knees, otherwise I’ll spray,” the officer said.

The prisoner at no point makes a move towards the officers and does not appear to be doing anything to indicate he will harm himself, the footage shows.

He replies in a quiet tone: “I can’t do that, brother.”

The officer, now appearing to speak almost at the top of his lungs, says: “Down now, get on your knees!”

He then pepper sprays the prisoner, who says: “Why did you do this to me?” and later: “I can’t see, brother, please.”

During his evidence, the officer said the prisoner was posing a threat “by being non-compliant and just not responding to my instructions”.

“The fact that he had a towel in his hand that’s what I considered … could be used as a weapon against myself or my staff around me,” he said.

The man said he was scared during the incident.

“He could use it to throw punches or he could even release the towel by throwing it at us,” he said.

Under cross-examination from Crown prosecutor Li, the officer said he believed the immediate risk from the towel that the prisoner would hurt himself.

“Did you see any movements indicating that he would self-harm when he was out of the cell?” Li asked

“I saw that he was doing something that he shouldn’t be doing,” the officer replied.

“But he hadn’t made any moves to self-harm?

“No.”

Li asked whether loudly shouting orders at a prisoner who was backing away was an effective means of de-escalation.

“Someone backing away means they’re not following instructions,” the officer said.

“They are actively resisting.”

The trial continues with closing addresses expected on Wednesday afternoon.

George Block is an Auckland-based reporter with a focus on police, the courts, prisons and defence. He joined the Herald in 2022 and has previously worked at Stuff in Auckland and the Otago Daily Times in Dunedin.