The ringleaders of Friday's riot at the Child, Youth and Family youth justice facility in Palmerston North have been moved to other cities.
The riot happened about 8pm, when a group of 11 teenagers attacked 11 staff members before barricading themselves in a room.
Police were called and said the teenagers surrendered quickly once they arrived.
"There were 30 young people in the residence, of whom 11 were involved but principally four," said CYF residential services manager Alan Geraghty.
"A number of the young people involved were managed into our secure unit ... two of the main offenders have been shifted - one to Auckland and one to Christchurch - to take some pressure out of the residence and ... so staff feel safe."
CYF was reviewing policies and procedures at the centre, and a review would also be carried out to see how inmates' risk was assessed, and how safety management plans were developed, he said.
It was also still trying to establish exactly how and why the riot started.
"This was an incident which erupted from nothing," Mr Geraghty said.
"The comment staff made was that they were absolutely surprised by what happened.
"A staff member was talking to one of the young people about an aspect of their behaviour which was not okay, the young person took exception to that, reacted very quickly and assaulted a female member of staff who was only peripherally around, and then assaulted two other staff members and invited other young people to be part of that."
Three staff members were hurt. One suffered a broken finger and another had a shoulder dislocated. A third suffered cuts and bruises after being kicked.
Four people joined in initially, and one in particular played a prime role in ensuing events.
Seven others were "upset by what went on and joined in", Mr Geraghty said.
The 11 barricaded themselves in while some staff moved the remaining residents at the centre elsewhere. The rest of the staff tried without success to quell the rioters, and police were called.
Since Friday there have been several debriefing sessions and counselling has been made available to staff.
- NZPA
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