Police Minister wants greater powers following boy racer incident, recession driving business sales boom and man loses life savings in today's NZ Herald headlines.
Two inmates at a Waikato prison are facing charges after they climbed onto a roof and stayed there for over five hours.
General manager of the Spring Hill Corrections Facility, Scott Walker, said staff immediately responded after two prisoners climbed onto the roof of a single-storey unit inside the prison about 4pm on Monday.
“The prisoners were contained within the secure perimeter of the prison’s unit at all times. There was no threat to the wider security of the prison and no threat to public safety at any time,” Walker said.
Prison Negotiation Teams (PNT) and Advanced Control and Restraint (ACR) teams spent more than five hours de-escalating the situation at the Hampton Downs facility.
“The prisoners voluntarily climbed down off the roof at approximately 9.30pm,” Walker said.
Spring Hill Corrections Facility in Waikato. Photo / Wayne Drought
“In recent years we’ve been required to manage an increasingly complex prison population with significant behavioural and mental health challenges. Many prisoners can be volatile and will go to extreme lengths to cause disruption and destruction while in prison,” Walker said.
“We’ve acted to ensure our frontline staff are well prepared to safely respond to these types of incidents. This includes developing specialists working at heights training, so we have dedicated staff with the training, skills and equipment to respond to prisoners at height. Our working at heights staff were on standby to respond to this incident, but thanks to the work of our ACR and PNT teams did not need to be deployed on this occasion.”
In December 2022, a violent afternoon at the prison saw a Corrections staffer hospitalised and a specialist squad deployed.
Two staffers were assaulted on December 4 at Spring Hill Corrections Facility. In the first incident a prisoner who was on the phone suddenly began assaulting a staff member, Walker said at the time.
A second prisoner then joined the attack.
The staff member was taken to hospital with head injuries.
The second attack happened in the same unit as the first assault. Walker said a prisoner launched an attack on an officer during the prison lock-up period.
“Staff acted immediately to restrain the prisoner and relocate him to the management unit,” Walker said.
The second staffer suffered facial injuries and also required medical treatment off-site.
Monday’s incident came 11 years and two days after the prison was the site of a major riot, when more than two dozen prisoners rampaged for nine hours, setting fire to two cell blocks and smashing cells with makeshift weapons. Three Corrections officers and two prisoners were injured.
The mass brawl at unit 16B on June 1, 2013, was one of the worst in New Zealand history. It began after inmates broke into the guard room and attacked an officer with a metal volleyball pole.
Several fires were started in the prison, including a huge blaze in the middle of the compound.
The cost of the rampage topped $10 million, more than 20 prisoners were charged over the riot, and two containers of “home brew” were discovered by prison staff.
Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.
