Earlier today, the deceased man’s family said they were furious over the delay in contact from Corrections and were seeking a formal investigation into how it happened.
“This was not just a failure of process – it was a complete breakdown of care, safety and humanity,“ a family member said of the lack of engagement from Corrections until yesterday.
“We want to make it clear that the only reason we received any form of contact from Mt Eden prison [on Monday] was because we began demanding answers by making the first point of contact.”
Yesterday the Herald revealed Corrections had apologised to the prisoner’s family “for causing them added distress during this difficult time”.
Mt Eden Corrections Facility general manager Dion Paki had said: “It was always my intention to reach out to them to offer my condolences and support, and I have done so today.
“When a person passes away in prison, police are responsible for notifying the next of kin first before Corrections contacts loved ones.”
Paki said they were informed yesterday that police had contacted the man’s next of kin on Friday.
Corrections was awaiting confirmation from police of the family’s correct contact details “... as we hadn’t been able to verify these through our own records.
“However, I acknowledge we should have followed this up much faster and found alternative ways to confirm the next of kin so we could contact them.
“Again, I am extremely sorry for not contacting them much sooner and fully accept we should have done better.”
The family member said they were heartbroken and angry.
“If proper oversight and compassion had been shown earlier, maybe our loved one would still be here.”
He said they were not interested in “surface-level apologies” and wanted “full transparency, a formal investigation and for real changes to happen”.
“So no other family has to experience this kind of pain. We will not stay silent. We also find their reason of awaiting correct contact details from police to be implausible. We are at a loss as to what verification Corrections needed to do.”
The family member said the man’s sister was a vetted visitor and Corrections would have had her contact details.
“We look forward to seeing who he put as next of kin on his admission forms and why they had problems contacting that person.”
Men’s prisons deputy commissioner Neil Beales today also responded to the issues raised by the prisoner’s family.
“We acknowledge the pain and distress the family is experiencing, and fully accept their concerns,” Beales said.
He said Corrections had arranged a time to meet with the family where they “will talk through their concerns”.
“A full investigation will be carried out by the independent Office of the Inspectorate, which we understand will cover Corrections’ delay in contacting the family.
“This matter will also be referred to the Coroner, and a Police investigation is under way.”
Katie Harris is an Auckland-based journalist who covers issues including sexual assault, workplace misconduct, media, crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2020.
Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
