Convicted double-murderer Mikaere Puata Chaney and other inmates feature in a string of photos taken behind bars at Auckland South Corrections Facility, then posted to instgram. Staff at the Serco-run prison have seized a phone and asked Instagram to remove the account.
Convicted double-murderer Mikaere Puata Chaney and other inmates feature in a string of photos taken behind bars at Auckland South Corrections Facility, then posted to instgram. Staff at the Serco-run prison have seized a phone and asked Instagram to remove the account.
Concerns from authorities have seen Corrections staff from the public prison system sent to the privately run men’s prison at Wiri to help oversee two troubled units dominated by gangs. George Block reports.
Now, staff from the public prison system have been deployed to monitor and advise in the two troubled units at the Auckland South Corrections Facility, after Corrections managers visited the site and raised a range of concerns about how the gang-dominated units were run.
The move comes less than a year after a man serving time for murder, Donovan Michael Duff, killed again inside the Serco-run prison at Wiri after he stabbed two fellow inmates, puncturing one man’s heart.
Meanwhile, the Herald can also reveal the Chief Ombudsman raised concerns about the conditions and treatment of prisoners at the facility earlier this year, following an inspection under the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), though his report has yet to be released.
A video filmed of a staff search inside Auckland South Corrections Facility at Wiri went viral. Now the prisoner's phone has been confiscated. Photo / caposnake
The Tiktok user, @caposnake, was understood to be linked to the King Cobras and enjoyed a brief but highly successful stint on the social media platform. Staff eventually seized his phone, though not before one of his videos had garnered nearly 500,000 views.
Later that month, Corrections Deputy Commissioner for men’s prisons Neil Beales and another senior manager from the department visited Auckland South and flagged a number of issues in two wings at the prison.
Beales said they identified a range of areas where the prison “could strengthen their operational practices and processes in these wings to better support frontline staff and improve their management of prisoners”.
“These include strengthening consistency and routine in the wings, and providing additional training to less senior staff working in the wings,” he said in a statement.
As a result, Corrections deployed seven staff to Auckland South to support and advise on the operation of the two wings, an arrangement Beales expected to remain in place for three months.
Beales said “mutual aid” had been provided between the Serco-run facility and public prison several times in recent years, including during Corrections well-publicised staff shortages of 2022.
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier also raised concerns about the prison following a visit by several inspectors from his office in August.
An Ombudsman spokeswoman confirmed the OPCAT inspection had taken place and its inspectors had visited Auckland South from August 19 to 30.
The office would not release any of the findings, saying they were confidential until the report was finalised and released.
Other videos on the @caposnake account show groups of prisoners relaxing in the yards or other areas of the prison at the Auckland South Corrections Facility at Wiri.
The Herald understands the Ombudsman raised several concerns about the state of the prison. This was confirmed by Beales.
“I am also aware that the Chief Ombudsman has raised concerns about the conditions and treatment of prisoners at ASCF [Auckland South Corrections Facility] following an OPCAT inspection,” he said.
“As a result of these concerns, Corrections has spoken to ASCF’s prison director to understand the steps that ASCF is taking to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people in prison.
“We have also engaged the on-site monitors to understand how to manage the needs of the population at the site, which has changed in complexity in recent years, and are supporting ASCF to review the placement of existing prisoners in these wings. Corrections will also assist in moving prisoners where required.”
A Serco spokeswoman said they welcomed the support from Corrections in the operation of the two wings.
“The two wings hold among the more difficult prisoners in New Zealand, from many different gangs,” she said.
“We have experienced some recent challenges in managing these men, including the unlawful possession of mobile phones. Mainstream high security classified prisoners are disruptive and highly influential over other prisoners, which contributes to an unsettled environment.”
The prison remains a well-run facility, where rehabilitation and reintegration is the focus, the spokeswoman said.
The two wings in question hold about 60 men each, she said. Auckland South has a total capacity of 960 prisoners.
Auckland South prison originated from a public-private-partnership between Corrections and the SecureFuture conglomerate, which subcontracted Fletcher Construction to build the prison and Serco to operate the facility for 25 years.
The private prison at Wiri, Auckland South Corrections Facility, opened in 2015.
The November prison TikToks were not the only case this year of inmates at Auckland South appearing on social media.
Patched Head Hunter Mikaere Puata-Chaney, who killed his former partner and her father, appeared in several photos posted on an Instagram account since early December last year. The account’s bio read “my life thru jail bars”.
They showed him and other inmates, including members of the Killer Beez and Head Hunters, inside Auckland South.
Another photo, posted on January 7, shows him wearing sunglasses alongside a fellow prisoner, captioned “Anyone else spend New Years in SRU [Separation and Reintegration Unit]?”
The SRU houses prisoners on directed segregation, where inmates are kept away from the general population, sometimes as a punishment.
He was already serving a life sentence for beating his baby daughter to death in Waikato.
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.
