Prison guards unlikely to carry Tasers

The Government is considering allowing police to use Tasers in prisons but arming prison guards with the stun guns is unlikely, Corrections Minister Phil Goff says.

This week two officers were badly beaten by five inmates at Rimutaka Prison. The men were discharged from hospital and are recovering at home.

The assaults sparked calls for prison officers to be armed.

The Corrections Department is already undertaking a project to assess what extra protection staff need. One option under consideration is armed response teams.

But a spokesman for Mr Goff today said any decisions around arming prison officers had to take into account the possibility guards' weapons could be used against them.

For that reason it was unlikely guards would be armed with Tasers.

The department has already ruled out lethal weapons.

However the spokesman said it was possible - once Tasers were deployed to police - that corrections policy would be changed so that police responding to violent incidents could use Tasers inside prisons.

At present the police Armed Offenders Squad is usually called to violent incidents involving armed inmates.

- NZPA