Protesting prisoners may move

Around 20 prisoners who were involved in an incident that led to the Ngawha prison complex being locked down on Sunday afternoon may be moved to other jails around the country. They also face the prospect of disciplinary procedures, and possibly criminal charges.

The riot squad was dispatched to the prison after inmates lit fires in rubbish bins and in some cases damaged cells. The protest was all over within an hour. Corrections' general manager prison services Jeanette Burns said there had been no risk of anyone escaping or any threat to public safety.

The prisoners involved were all in one unit, staging their protest after refusing to be locked in their cells. Prison staff had extinguished the fires quickly, and all the prisoners had been contained within the unit throughout the incident.

Ms Burns said the "prisoner disorder" and the reasons for it would be fully investigated, a process that was likely to lead to the prisoners involved facing internal disciplinary action and possibly criminal charges. They would also be split up, with some being moved to other prisons.

Back-up staff from Auckland, including the advanced control and restraint unit, made up of highly trained Corrections officers, were sent to Ngawha in response to the incident, while a crew from the Kaikohe Fire Brigade was placed on standby.

The incident was the second at Ngawha within a month. Emergency services were dispatched to the prison on June 7 in response to fears that a riot was brewing. A group of about half a dozen inmates scuffled with Corrections officers, one of whom was struck on the head.

The officers withdrew to safety when other inmates in the unit began gathering in support of their fellow prisoners, and ordered them back to their cells. Five refused to go, leading to a stand-off that lasted for about an hour.

Local firefighters were stood down when they eventually complied.

Some of the prisoners involved in that incident were subsequently transferred to a prison with higher levels of security. (Ngawha can hold up to 366 inmates with security ranging from low to high-medium. It employs 180 staff.