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Rimutaka Prison in Upper Hutt (File photo)
The Rimutaka prison has seen an increase in the number of gang members, with reports of violence and stalemate tactics in its high-security units.
It comes after an unannounced inspection in October 2019 by the Office of Inspection, an independent arm of the Department of Corrections, following problems raised with the prison violence in 2017.
In the report, Chief Inspector Janis Adair said that while there were some improvements since then, the presence of gangs had increased in the past three years.
As of September 30, 2019, the prison held 1,038 inmates, more than half of whom identified as gang members.
Overall, there was an increase of 157 active gang members since a 2017 inspection.
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The report also revealed that in the six months to September 31, 2019, 69 assaults were recorded between prisoners in Rimutaka. Of these, 59 occurred in high security units.
During the same period, 26 attacks on prisoners against staff were recorded.
Adair also noted positive aspects of the prison, such as a consistent induction process, better inmates’ access to phone calls with their attorney, lower levels of contraband, and better meals.
Ongoing problems were concentrated in the high-security unit, and inmates in the low-security units also reported that they felt safe from intimidation, violence and deadlock.
During informal discussions, the inmates said there was little or no contraband. In the six months to September 31, 2019, 31 out of 550 urine drug tests were reported positive.
Rimutaka Prison has recently been the subject of a police investigation called Operation Porcia.
That operation is investigating suspected corruption after staff are alleged to have smuggled, including drugs, into inmates, laundered money through their bank accounts and falsified official documents.
The increase in the prison population has also led to more cases of double bunk beds.
Although the management of health services had improved, prisoners had insufficient access to them. It also found that the High Dependency Unit did not have the equipment to safely deal with the increasing health needs of inmates.
No significant progress had been made to ensure that privacy and dignity requirements were met for inmates in disability cells, according to the report.
