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Corrections has cleared its staff and Chubb contractors of any wrongdoing after an inmate was assaulted in a prison van last week - but admitted a similar attack could happen again.
A 34-year-old man was attacked by another prisoner during a half-hour trip between Auckland Remand Centre and
Waitakere District Court. He suffered abrasions and cuts, but fears his jaw had been broken proved unfounded.
The attack, eight months after North Shore teenager Liam Ashley was battered to death in the back of a Chubb transport van, has raised fresh questions about Corrections protocols for prisoner transfer.
"Although the record of safety by Chubb and Public Prisons Service in transporting prisoners overall is very good, it must be accepted that the vulnerability to similar incidents remains present," an internal Corrections report into the incident said.
"This is due to the number of prisoners currently segregated, the heterogeneous nature of that segregated population, the unpredictable nature of some prisoners, and the current arrangements for transporting prisoners. The same risk also exists for all other categories of prisoners being transported in multiple occupancy compartments."
Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor requested a copy of the report into the incident, which he signed off yesterday.
It said prisoners who had requested segregation from fellow inmates were not automatically granted it. Some 30 per cent of all prisoners, around 2500 inmates, are voluntarily segregated.
"It would not be possible or desirable to segregate any prisoner from his or her peers at all times during their remand period or sentence," the report said.
"[The prisoner] would have had to associate with others in the voluntary protective segregation category during his remand period."
National Corrections spokesman Simon Power said: "This appears to have been a recipe for disaster, made worse because the victim of the latest van attack was obviously so worried for his safety he had asked to be separated from other prisoners. His wishes were ignored."
A spokesman for Mr O'Connor said Corrections was now considering three options for transporting at-risk prisoners: waist restraints, separate compartments for each prisoner, or a compartment for a guard in the back of vans so they could watch over the prisoners.
Meanwhile, an investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman into prisoner transport has been completed, and a draft copy of the report is with Corrections and Chubb for their response. The report will be made public after it is tabled in Parliament.
The bashed man's lawyer, John Cagney, said everything possible should be done to ensure someone in prison custody wasn't assaulted or killed.
"I am happy it is being examined. It hasn't, by a long stretch of the imagination, been the first one [prison van assault] and it won't be the last."
Mr Cagney said he had not seen the report. "I can't talk to you about that because the facts surrounding everything, and his name, have been suppressed for perfectly good reasons."