Auckland prison attack: Inmate stabbed repeatedly in Mt Eden amid chronic staff shortage

A prisoner in Auckland was repeatedly stabbed in a frenzied attack inside Mt Eden Corrections Facility amid a “dire” staff shortage that a union says is adding to tensions inside.

The assault - which left the victim with multiple puncture wounds - happened on Friday morning, when one of Mt Eden’s approximately 986 prisoners allegedly attacked another without warning in a day room using an improvised weapon.

Mt Eden is a remand prison, meaning most of the men there have been charged with an offence but have not been convicted.

The situation inside the prison reflects Corrections’ long-standing staffing woes, according to the boss of a union representing Corrections officers.

Corrections Association president Floyd du Plessis said the facility was currently on a restricted roster, meaning measures were being taken to allow it to operate with fewer staff.

Even so, it is still dozens of officers short of the amount required, with 335 staff on-site out of the 386 that should be there under the restricted roster, according to du Plessis.

A fully staffed roster would require about 472 staff, he said.

The Department of Corrections provided slightly different numbers to the Herald, due to what it said were daily fluctuations in the reduced workforce, saying there were 61 officer vacancies from 469 equivalent fulltime positions.

Corrections said there are 366 staff available to work out of 410 total employed custodial staff.

Some measures being undertaken to cope with the staff shortage are understood to be increasing the amount of tension among prisoners.

“It’s been a very turbulent site for the last few months,” du Plessis said.

“They’ve just recently changed the roster to have slightly better staffing, but it’s still a dire situation - still multiple lock regimes.”

The latest attack inside Mt Eden saw a prisoner stabbed multiple times with an improvised weapon on Friday. Photo / NZME

A “multiple lock regime” is when prisoners who would normally be out of their cells all day are unlocked in shorter periods in small groups.

A cohort of 15 prisoners might be unlocked for a couple of hours, then put back into their cells as another group is let out for a short period, du Plessis said.

“So that does cause some tension.”

Generally, only sentenced prisoners are eligible for rehabilitation programmes, and du Plessis said the fact Mt Eden is a remand prison added to tensions inside.

One of the new Government’s 49 actions promised in its first 100 days is to introduce legislation to extend eligibility for offence-based rehabilitation programmes to remand prisoners.

But it has also pledged to abolish the previous Labour government’s prisoner reduction target, crack down on youth offending, target gangs via controversial patch bans and anti-association orders and make gang membership an aggravating factor in sentencings.

Du Plessis said his association expects there to be a significant rise in prison numbers as a result of the new measures, which they supported.

“But there does need to be a clear concerted plan developed in terms of how we’re going to attract and retain staff now,” he said.

“At the end of the day, we can come up with all of the regimes we want. We need to get more staff and retain staff.”

The assault happened inside a day room at Mt Eden Corrections Facility and no staff were injured. Photo / NZME

According to Corrections, the starting salary for an officer is $65,019, increasing to $69,697 then $75,213 as they achieve Level 3 and 4 qualifications, with a $4000 annual shift allowance. Du Plessis said that needed to rise in order to attract and retain more staff.

Mt Eden prison director Dian Paki said a fight broke out in a day room of a remand unit on Friday morning.

“Staff responded quickly to bring the situation under control,” he said.

“They showed exceptional professionalism in the way they handled a difficult situation.”

A prisoner suffered multiple puncture wounds from an improvised weapon, Paki said. He was taken to hospital, but returned to the prison the same day after he received medical clearance.

No staff were injured and the alleged perpetrators were taken to a management unit where they are under directed segregation, he said.

Police are investigating.

“We have a zero-tolerance-for-violence policy, and any violence or assaults against other prisoners or staff is not tolerated in prisons. Any prisoner using such behaviour will be held to account for their actions, including facing criminal charges.”

George Block is an Auckland-based reporter with a focus on police, the courts, prisons and defence. He joined the Herald in 2022 and has previously worked at Stuff in Auckland and the Otago Daily Times in Dunedin.