KEY POINTS:
Convicted killer William Bell may not lose his sight despite being stabbed through the eye with a makeshift knife at Auckland's maximum security prison.
The RSA triple killer was attacked on Monday in a recreation area in D Block, where some of the country's worst criminals are incarcerated.
He was immediately rushed to Auckland City Hospital.
Although reports yesterday indicated Bell had been injured during a serious beating, further scans and tests have now revealed he was stabbed through the eye socket - probably by one of two makeshift weapons that have since been recovered by police.
Speculation spread yesterday that the attack was part of an elaborate plan by Bell to escape. The Herald understands rumours in prison were that he had planned to contrive an injury to get himself to North Shore Hospital where his girlfriend would be waiting with a gun in order to help his escape.
Corrections assistant general manager, operations, Bryan McMurray said prison staff were aware of a possible escape attempt for the past few months.
"We have been managing Bell for the last two months knowing that we had some information that suggested he might attempt to escape at some time. It wasn't specific."
Mr McMurray would not confirm whether the prison rumours were true but said there were only a limited number of ways prisoners could escape, one of which would be having a legitimate reason to be out of prison such as being in hospital or going to court.
"My information is that we have been told he was going to attempt to escape and we haven't ruled anything out ... so we have taken the information ... about him being a security risk very seriously."
Mr McMurray said that meant an alert was placed on Bell's file and he was managed as an "extreme security risk" and there were "very robust" security systems in place for whenever he was moved about.
Bell was housed in a segregation wing with up to 24 other maximum security inmates. At the time of the attack he was in the recreation area with one other inmate and guards were making regular patrols of the area, which is covered by security cameras.
It is understood a staff member heard Bell's cries as he was being attacked and came to his aid.
Mr McMurray said it was not yet clear if the other inmate was responsible and he couldn't discount the possibility that Bell's injuries were self-inflicted.
However, police say Bell's injuries were not self-inflicted and charges, possibly wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm or attempted murder, are likely to be laid against the other inmate within the next couple of days.
North Shore Police operations inspector Gary Davey said Bell would remain in hospital under an armed guard for another couple of days before being returned to prison. He would not be drawn on a motive for the attack, saying that was something that would be examined as part of the terms of reference by the investigating team.