Overcrowding at Rotorua police station cells meant two teenage girls had to sleep overnight on an interview room floor.
The girls had to spend the night at the police station because Child Youth and Family did not have any beds available for them.
And overcrowding at several prisons is leading to single-occupancy
cells being considerd for use by two inmates.
Rotorua police Senior Sergeant Dave Donaldson said the girls spent Monday night in the police interview room because the cells were full of remand prisoners who could not be sent to Waikeria Prison due to a lack of space.
The interview room had an external lock and the girls had to bang on the door when they needed to go to the toilet.
"It is actually carpeted in the interview room so it's nicer than the police cells," he said.
The cells last night had 13 adult prisoners who are supposed to be at Waikeria Prison.
To complicate matters, two youths also spent the night in the cell block because there were no beds available with Child, Youth and Family services.
The numbers last night were still above the station's prisoner quota, although a lot less than police were dealing with at the weekend when 30 men, three women and a transsexual had to share the station's cells. At times there were up to three people in a cell designed for one person.
The overcrowding was expected to ease today because 10 beds were to become available at Waikeria Prison.
Similar overcrowding at police cells is being experienced in Whangarei with 18 prisoners held in their cells on Monday night.
The Department of Corrections is trying to get more beds around the country.
Corrections corporate services manager Chris Thornborough said the department intended to extend bed numbers at Auckland, Waikeria, Auckland Central Remand and Mt Eden prisons and double bunk the cells at Hawke's Bay, Rimutaka, Christchurch Women's and Invercargill prisons.
An extra 40 beds will also be available when the refurbishment of Wanganui Prison is completed in October.
Although not ideal, the department would continue using police cells to hold inmates and remandees in accordance with its agreement with the police, Mr Thornborough said.
The police had made available 97 cells nationally to hold inmates that could not be accommodated in prisons.
A new prison for Auckland women and three new prisons for men are to be built by 2008.
As of yesterday, Hawke's Bay Prison was at full capacity of 568 remand and sentenced inmates.
Mr Thornborough said staff there had been working extra shifts to manage the numbers.
"We commend staff who have managed the increased numbers in a very professional manner," he said, adding that the department was "actively pursuing" its options for relieving the pressure on prison numbers.
One of those options so far has been to use police cells throughout the country to hold both remand prisoners and sentenced inmates.
Police have made available 97 cells throughout the country to hold the overflow.
Mr Thornborough acknowledged that the situation was not ideal.
Six prisoners were being held in the Hastings cells and five in Napier and specialised jailers, with past police, security or corrections department experience, had been employed on what police hoped would be a short-term basis.
With prisoners requiring feeding, washing and with the right to have visitors, it was effectively a 24-hour job, one officer said.
With arrests up, and the number of remand prisoners on the rise, there was unlikely to be a quick fix.
The only extra mainstream prisoner accommodation on the horizon will be 40 beds in October as the result of a refurbishment programme at Wanganui Prison.
"Given the higher than usual forecast inmate numbers, the department will continue to revise its facilities planning for inmates at least until the new prison in Auckland for women inmates and the three new men's prisons become available progressively by 2008," Mr Thornborough said.
Police in both Napier and Hastings were hopeful their six prisoners would be transferred to Hawke's Bay Prison later today.
One officer said the recent overcrowding was among the worst he had seen.
- DAILY POST (ROTORUA), NZPA
Overcrowding at Rotorua police station cells meant two teenage girls had to sleep overnight on an interview room floor.
The girls had to spend the night at the police station because Child Youth and Family did not have any beds available for them.
And overcrowding at several prisons is leading to single-occupancy
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