Prisoners get fried chicken for not 'acting up'

Hawke's Bay prison staff are being put at risk by management decisions to reward inmates with Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) for agreeing to have their cells checked, says a union representative.

Inmates in a low to medium security unit were rewarded with KFC earlier this month for not "acting up" during a search of their cells, Corrections Association spokesman Beven Hanlon said.

The search turned up drugs, cannabis-smoking utensils, cellphones and crude homemade weapons such as razor blades stuck on the end of toothbrushes and sharpened sticks.

The 60 inmates were rewarded with $200 to $300 worth of fried chicken for allowing their cells to be searched.

"They were rewarded for allowing us to do our job," Mr Hanlon said.

The same thing happened two weeks earlier in another unit.

Nothing was found then and they also got KFC.

Mr Hanlon said he did not know whose decision it was to buy KFC but the Corrections Department would have paid for it.

Staff are also expected to collect videos for inmates which are then played in inmates' cells through a central system from the control room.

"Some staff refuse to do it and I'm sure it is a breach of copyright," Mr Hanlon said.

"What concerns us is that when these things stop, it's one of us who gets assaulted. It's happened before and it will happen again."

Mr Hanlon said the actions of management in rewarding inmates for doing what they were supposed to was undermining uniformed staff morale.

"It compromises officers to have to get KFC and videos. What's to stop them putting pressure on us for other things?"

Prisoners breaching the rules were facing no consequences because the prison was so overcrowded.

"The beds supposed to be used for solitary confinement are full so inmates who are supposed to be punished are simply shut in their own cells which is no punishment at all," Mr Hanlon said.

"That may explain why drug use in Hawke's Bay Prison is so high," he said.

"There are no consequences for their actions. Inmates know nothing will happen to them for a breach of regulations."

There was nothing wrong with rewards and privileges because they gave prisoners something to aim for, he said.

"But there are no consequences if they do anything wrong."

Mr Hanlon said such actions were not confined to Hawke's Bay Prison.

"It's happening in other prisons around the country as well."

- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY