KEY POINTS:
A former Corrections employee who used prisoners to do up his own house covered his tracks by misleading prison bosses and his partner - and is now being investigated by police.
He resigned when the department started investigating him for taking two low-security prisoners to his home to
work on his property under the pretence of a release-to-work programme.
Auckland Prison management approved the work, believing the prisoners would be doing repairs on a rural fire station, which was near the instructor's home.
The four occasions - in May, June and August last year - cost two other Corrections Inmate Employment staff their jobs - another instructor who accompanied them and the acting manager.
It is understood the prisoners were working on projects outside the house, including a porch.
A summary of the incident, released to the Herald under the Official Information Act, reveals that the man kept the scam from his partner, who also worked for the CIE scheme. "While [she] was present at some part of the day during two of the escorted outings, she queried the presence of the prisoners and was advised that the outings had been approved by Prison Services management," the summary said.
The investigation revealed that she had tried to raise alarm bells with the CIE acting manager.
"[She] claims she raised the issue during a general discussion about the progress of the garage with the manager and was told by him that the escorted outings were all approved."
She was investigated for supplying the inmates with non-prison food, but was cleared when she was found to have made sandwiches for the instructors, who then shared them with the prisoners.
The instructor who owned the house resigned soon after the department started investigating.
North Shore CIB confirmed they were investigating but would not comment further.
The department dismissed the other instructor and the acting manager for serious misconduct in June. "The [acting] manager knew that two CIE instructors under his control had conducted escorted outings for two prisoners in order to use their labour to carry out work on one instructor's private residence.
"The manager took no action in response, despite this conduct being an apparent serious breach of the department's code of conduct."
The investigation also found that a CIE vehicle was used to take the prisoners to the property.
Meanwhile, the department has revealed that it sacked an officer from Christchurch Men's Prison because he had passed drugs to two prisoners and had smoked cannabis outside work. "The incident of contraband occurred on 25 November 2006. The instances of cannabis consumption occurred in August and September 2005," said Jo Stephenson, acting human resources manager. The officer was dismissed in April.
