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Waist restraints for prisoners during transport are being installed in prison van in a move designed to reduce assaults and escapes.
The Department of Corrections started testing restraints last year following criticism of transport security after the murder of 17-year-old Liam Ashley in August 2006.
Liam's
killer, George Charlie Baker, strangled him and stomped on his head in a van taking them to Auckland Central Remand Prison at Mt Eden.
The death resulted in a damning Ombudsmen's report on prisoner transport.
The department's chief custodial adviser, Bryan McMurray, said the nationwide installation had begun in the central region.
He said Corrections was committed to "safety, securely and humanely transporting prisoners".
The restraints reduced the ability of prisoners to assault each other by securing their arms to a belt around their waist.
"Waist restraints also protect the safety of the public by further reducing the possibility of escape," Mr McMurray said.
Prisoners would wear them at all times while being transported unless there was a good reason not to.
Exclusions would be given to pregnant women, medically exempt prisoners or those travelling in a compartment on their own.
Mr McMurray said the department had contracted New Zealand manufacturer Black Scorpion to supply the restraints, after a rigorous trial at three prisons.
During the trial some minor faults were found but modifications had been made before the restraints were bought.
The installation programme would continue in the southern and northern regions on May 5 and 12.
The department's vehicle standards were also being reviewed to see what other solutions were available to address the issue of prisoner assaults.
"Waist restraints have been implemented because they provide an immediate response to the threat of prisoners assaulting each other," Mr McMurray said.
Implementing the restraints, including necessary modifications to vehicles, had cost about $1 million.
To implement all the recommendations in the Ombudsmen's report could cost up to $30 million, it was revealed last year.
Chief Ombudsman John Belgrave and fellow ombudsman Mel Smith found the majority of prisoner transport in New Zealand was "inhumane".
Their report, made public in June, recommended sweeping changes to the was prsoners were transported.
It also recommended policy changes to improve consistency throughout the country's prisons and between police, Corrections and its contractor.
The Government responded by saying it would implement all the recommendations.
It also said it would intoduce waist restraints, which were not recommended in the report.
- NZPA
