Goon squad 'lacked control'

An inquiry into a Canterbury prison's so-called goon squad says it had a military-style culture and was so badly set up it lacked proper oversight by the Corrections Department.

The report by Queen's Counsel Ailsa Duffy into the now-disbanded squad of prison officers at Paparua Prison blames human error for the way it was able to work without proper accountability.

And yesterday the report's findings led both the Human Rights Commission and New Zealand First MP Ron Mark to urge the Government to think carefully before pursuing its law change unveiled this week to limit the ability of prisoners abused by the state to be compensated.

Both prison officers and inmates blew the whistle on the actions of the Canterbury Emergency Response Unit, dubbed the goon squad, which existed for about a year at Paparua in 1999 and 2000.

One inmate, David Haimona, died after an altercation with squad members, and others have been financially compensated after being subjected to unlawful strip searches.

But no Corrections Department staff have lost their jobs over their actions or management failures, and yesterday chief executive Mark Byers rejected calls by Mr Mark for him to resign before his expected retirement next year. Mr Byers said senior managers had been held to account in performance reviews, and financially penalised.

He and Corrections Minister Paul Swain said the squad's behaviour was wrong, lessons had been learned and improved systems introduced.

However the report says there was little wrong with the systems, policies and procedures that were in place within the department four years ago.

Instead, the report says, accountability was so poor and the unit so badly set up that it got away with operating outside standard practices.

"The absence of clear line management meant that there was no clear line of accountability; in those circumstances the unit was able to develop an inappropriate militaristic culture."

The report also says every one of the department's inquiries into the accusations made against the squad were "inadequate".

"For a unit to be so badly established indicates management failures within the department.

"Every investigation the department established to look into allegations of inappropriate behaviour in [the unit] was poorly conceived, narrowly constrained and without the capability to establish the full picture."

Claims against the unit include the illegal strip-searching of prisoners with officers humiliating naked inmates, and bizarre off-duty drinking behaviour.

Mr Haimona died while he was being restrained by members of the unit.

Members of the unit used to walk through the prison in twos or threes, dressed in special black overalls, riot helmets and carrying backpacks with restraint "tools".

Ms Duffy said given the very visible nature of the unit, its work could not have evolved without management knowledge.

Mr Mark said last night that it was wrong that the whistleblowing prison officers had effectively been forced from their jobs, while managers criticised in the report continued to work for the Corrections Department.

"At the end of the day civilisations are judged by the humanity we show people who are incarcerated."