The inmate was assaulted at Hawke's Bay Regional Prison near Hastings. Photo / NZME
Prison officers did not realise for about 15 minutes that an inmate had been beaten up in a six-on-one attack at Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison.
The gang-related assault on October 23, 2023, lasted about two minutes and the victim was punched, kicked and stomped on as he lay prone on the floor.
The Department of Corrections said that at the time of the assault, staff were monitoring other prisoners elsewhere within the unit. A review by the Corrections Inspectorate is underway.
In addition to the punching and stomping, one of the attackers picked up a metal broom and struck the victim once to the body and twice on the head.
However, when the attack ended, there was a brief handshake between the victim and the lead assailant.
The beaten man had swelling to his head and face, and pain in his spine, chest and arms, but no fractures.
He was taken to hospital but discharged back to the jail the same day.
Judge Gordon Matenga read a summary of the “extreme and prolonged” violence to the Hastings District Court this week when he sentenced one of the attackers.
“This wasn’t just a one-on-one attack,” Judge Matenga said. “It was one-on-six ... [it involved] multiple attackers within the prison environment and involved rival gang tensions.”
Judge Matenga gave prisoner Stephen Tihore, 22, a jail term of 18 months after he pleaded guilty to a charge of injuring with intent to injure.
Tihore has a history of violence, including taking part in group attacks in Gisborne in 2020.
He was a sentenced prisoner at the time of the jail assault but has been in custody on remand since.
The judge said a CCTV camera captured the whole attack, but it took corrections officers about a quarter of an hour to realise that it had happened.
In that time, one of the attackers had used the broom and some water to clean up the blood.
George Massingham, the General Manager of Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison, said a review following the incident determined that the time it took for officers to respond was “impacted by staff not becoming aware of the assault immediately at the time it occurred”.
“This is because the Corrections Officers on duty in the specific unit at the time of the assault were managing other prisoners elsewhere in the unit. The staff member in the unit control room was engaged in other matters monitoring the actions of another prisoner.”
Massingham said staff became aware of the assault when the victim made his way to the control room.
Officers then “responded promptly”, calling for backup, securing the alleged attackers and providing first aid to the victim.
“The independent Corrections Inspectorate is ... carrying out a review into this matter and we will consider any recommendations this review makes to ensure we are providing the safest possible environment for prisoners,” Massingham said.
The internal review found gang tensions were a contributing factor.
The prison has now made changes to where prisoners are placed, particularly gang members.
“Staff have also been spoken to around the importance of ensuring the entirety of a unit is being effectively monitored at all times,” Massingham said.
“Corrections officers do a difficult job managing some of New Zealand’s most violent and challenging people,” he said.
“Over 80 per cent of the prison population have convictions for violence in their offending histories and many prisoners can behave unpredictably and act without warning.
“The reality is the threat of violence is something we cannot eliminate entirely, but we are constantly working to improve our operations and ensure our prisons provide the safest environment possible for staff and prisoners.”
Other prisoners involved in the incident are being dealt with separately by the court.
In regard to Tihore’s sentence, a jail term of two years or less can sometimes be converted to home detention.
However, Judge Matenga said no address was available currently where Tihore could serve such a sentence.
He gave Tihore leave to apply for home detention should an address become available.
Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay. His writing in the crime and justice sphere is informed by four years of front-line experience as a probation officer.