Prison guard stabbed with bucket handle

WELLINGTON - A female prison officer was stabbed in the back with a sharpened bucket handle when she and other officers intervened in a gang attack at Upper Hutt's Rimutaka Prison.

The makeshift weapon was earlier used on an inmate, who sustained stab wounds to the back and torso.

Corrections Association president Beven Hanlon told The Dominion Post it would be several months before tests could clear the officer of disease from the Thursday afternoon attack and she was likely to be off work for some time.

Detective Sergeant Murray Porter said two other officers were hurt in the incident, sustaining hand injuries and suspected broken ribs.

The injured inmate was reported to be a senior Black Power member and four Mongrel Mob members were arrested following the attack.

Mr Porter said the injured inmate sustained a punctured lung in the attack and needed surgery.

A prison spokeswoman referred comment to police.

- NZPA