Waikeria ‘manifesto’ claims water, clothing and prison conditions are dirty

A document purporting to express the complaints of Waikeria inmates states that inmates have dirty drinking water and must eat from paper bags next to shared open bathrooms.

Some claims outlined in a “manifesto” circulating online have been relayed to Waiariki MP and Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi, who was running into jail before sunset on New Year’s Eve.

It comes as one of the 17 inmates turned himself in this afternoon and is now speaking to the police after being assessed and cleared by medical personnel.

Negotiations with the remaining 16 inmates are ongoing and a Corrections spokesperson said they are encouraged to comply with staff instructions.

The document alleges that the drinking water in Waikato prison is brown, inmates have had to use towels for three weeks in a row, and some have not changed their bedding in five months.

Prison abolitionist group People Against Prisons Aotearoa uploaded the manifesto on New Year’s Eve.

“We don’t have toilet seats: we eat our kai in paper bags next to our open and shared toilets,” added the author or authors of the paper.

“We have not received clean uniforms to wear in three months. We wear the same dirty clothes day after day.”

“We have to wash our clothes in the dirty water from the shower and dry them on the concrete floor.”

A Waititi spokesman said the MP had heard almost all of the same complaints circulating in the manifesto.

And a woman who had been in daily telephone contact with her partner protesting inside jail told the Herald: “They feed him from a paper bag, not a plate, and he has to eat it in his cell where he goes to the bathroom. . “

The Department of Corrections was contacted for comment on the latest allegations circulating online.

A third of Waikeria’s bedding capacity has been destroyed since the riots broke out Tuesday.

Prisoners built bonfires in an exercise yard before climbing onto a roof.

Corrections Executive Director Jeremy Lightfoot previously said it was not known why the prisoners started protesting, but the reason could be an alleged lack of access to phones.

He said that after fires were lit in an exercise yard, the entire jail was closed.

Lightfoot said a maximum of 21 inmates did not comply and were destructive, but four of them surrendered Wednesday.

A Corrections spokesman said an inmate involved in the disorder turned himself in this afternoon and was taken out of the main jail.

The spokesman said police were responsible for determining whether charges would be brought against anyone in connection with the incident.

‘Adjusted time frame’

Meanwhile, Waititi was making a 360 km trip from Cape Runaway to Waikato Prison on New Year’s Eve.

“He has a tight deadline. They’ve given him until sundown,” a Waititi spokesman told the Herald around 7:30 pm on New Year’s Eve.

He understood that the prison administration told Waititi that he would have to arrive before sunset if he wanted to speak to the protesting prisoners.

Waititi said earlier on New Year’s Eve that the 17 prisoners had seized part of the jail in protest of the inhumane treatment.

“I have been contacted directly by several inmates who have made it very clear that they are unwilling to meet with anyone other than me to discuss their concerns,” Waititi said.

“I heard their call and am heading to Waikeria to meet with them, listen to them, support their call for justice and work towards a solution.”

“These men belong to whānau. They are fathers, brothers, sons and uncles.”

He said inmates deserved the right to humane treatment, clean water, food and clean clothing.

The prison staff union said earlier this week that guards were working in “horrible” conditions where the riots occurred.

Corrections Association president Alan Whitley said that part of the prison had passed its expiration date.

In April 2019, a series of assaults were reported at the prison. The violence included attacks on the guards by inmates and inmates fighting each other.