By SCOTT INGLIS
Prison guards and the public are at risk because of low staffing at Auckland's Mt Eden jail, says a damning report into an escape by two inmates.
The number of staff supervising prisoners in the remand yards poses a "potential security and hostage risk" and should be reviewed urgently, says the report into the daylight escape by Tommy Nikau and another inmate in April.
Acting Auckland prisons manager Brendon Moynihan said staffing levels had been reviewed and were adequate.
The report, released yesterday, was conducted by the Corrections Department's internal audit division. It concludes that systems were at fault and no individual is singled out for blame.
Nikau and the second inmate, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, escaped on Friday April 28 using sheets knotted together.
They were recaptured four days later.
Nikau was facing aggravated robbery and firearms charges.
The 10-page report details their escape and makes six key recommendations.
It reveals how the inmates used a mesh roof over a remand yard, designed to stop outsiders throwing contraband into the area, to escape and bypass electronic security.
But the most damning part is its reference to staffing. Numbers of guards were deleted in the report for security reasons.
It says: "The placement of [deleted] in the yard corridor with up to 16 unclassified remand inmates poses a potential security and hostage risk.
"The staffing level [deleted] in the whole remand yard area is insufficient to adequately supervise inmates ... "
The Herald understands that only one guard supervises inmates in a yard while another watches from the prison's bridge walkway area.
The prison officers' union, the Corrections Association of New Zealand, yesterday attacked prison authorities for not boosting staff levels despite worker calls to do so.
"This is but another example of the department's risk-management policy in action," said national organiser John Slater.
"They manage and the staff and public take the risk."
Prison officers would like to have at least two guards on the ground in each yard and two bridge sentries.
The report outlines how on April 28, shortly before 2 pm, two other inmates had an altercation, which tied up prison staff.
Nikau and the other prisoner seized their chance.
They scaled the internal wall of Yard 1 and climbed a 2.3m gap on to the bridge walkway and then on to the mesh covering the yard.
After attaching ropes to a fixed ladder at the end of the sentry walkway, they ran and leaped over the outer wall, which is topped with razor wire, using the sheets knotted together.
No guards saw them and a camera at the prison captured only part of the escape.
Prison authorities did not know of the escape until police, alerted by the public, told them.
The report notes three previous instances where inmates had scaled the yard's internal wall but did not escape.
Prison staff believe there were at least seven cases before this escape.
The report recommends:
A review of staff levels.
Yards 1 and 2 be made more secure so inmates cannot climb on to the mesh roof.
A number of other procedural changes be made to improve security management and risk assessment.
Security sensors in the prison were not working at the time because the electronic system was being fixed. But prison authorities believe the escapers did not know this when they fled.
Mr Moynihan said a review of staffing levels at Mt Eden had found them to be "consistent ... with the rest of the country."
Razor wire had been put around Yard 1 and its ceiling's edges to stop inmates scaling the internal wall.
Mr Moynihan said that all security and procedural concerns raised in the report had been addressed.
Report damns security at Mt Eden jail
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