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A Corrections Department investigation that found nothing to support claims of corruption at the Auckland Prison garage has ordered the garage to improve its record-keeping.
But National dismissed the investigation as a whitewash that was never going to find documented evidence of illegal activity, especially if those records were sub-standard.
Corrections is standing by the investigation's findings.
The prison garage is part of the Corrections Inmate Employment scheme and is used to maintain prison vehicles and by prison staff to service their vehicles for a fee.
The investigation was triggered after a former inmate, who was attached to the garage, told the Herald that prisoners had brought their own cars to the garage for service.
Prisoners had also worked on officers' cars for a pittance or in exchange for favourable treatment, he claimed. But Corrections found no evidence of these allegations.
"Several work practices at the CIE Garage at Auckland Prison were found to be inconsistent and non-transparent," said a department summary of the investigation.
It recommended a regular audit to verify accounting practices and provide "an accurate and transparent record of the business activities".
The former inmate said the lack of evidence was hardly surprising.
"They're not going to keep accurate records of illegal stuff. No one's going to admit to anything.
"Prisoners are subject to standover tactics, and officers aren't going to nark on each other."
CIE national manager Brent Maughan rejected the suggestion that the garage's imperfect record-keeping discredited the findings.
The investigation also looked into allegations, by the National Party in Parliament, that inmates at the garage had built a mechanical spit roast and refitted a 12-metre yacht for staff.
Interviews with staff and prisoners "could not substantiate" that inmates had been given food in exchange for working on prison staff vehicles.
The National Party's acting justice spokesman, Chester Burrows, called the investigation a "whitewash".
"There was no spit roast sighted by the investigator, even though people had seen it there; there was a freezer full of meat but no one knew how it got there; the boat was at the garage but there were no records of work being done.
"It doesn't surprise me that Corrections investigates itself and comes out with a clean record."
