Five prisoners have now spent 14 hours on the roof of Hawke's Bay Regional Prison.
Prison Services general manager Brendan Anstiss said one prisoner became agitated about 4.45pm yesterday after he was told he had been reclassified to maximum security status.
``After being informed of this, he encouraged 11 other prisoners to protest the decision with him.''
The protest initially started in the unit and during the night seven prisoners were removed from the unit and had been locked up.
``Five prisoners [then] moved up into the roof cavity and then up onto the roof, so they had a split in their group,'' Mr Anstiss told Radio New Zealand.
``The roof cavity can be accessed thorough air vents and ventilation shafts, so they've spent the night out in the cold and they are starting to get tired.''
The compound where the prisoners were was surrounded by two perimeter fences, Mr Anstiss said.
``These are rare events....prisoners have [already] spent a night out in the cold, this events been going on for 14 hours now, prisoners get hungry, typically those type motivations are sufficient for prisoners to find a way out of the situation.''
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