By PAULA OLIVER
Some prisoners had to spend extra time in their cells yesterday as defence force troops settled into the country's jails.
Called in by the Government on Tuesday night, 1400 staff from the defence forces spent their first day as replacements for suspended prison officers at 17 sites.
Apart from one incident in which an officer was assaulted, the Corrections Department said that the day had gone better than expected.
But it said the routines of some inmates were affected.
"There may be the odd place where they are spending a little more time in their cells, perhaps watching an extra video or something, than they normally would," said the Public Prisons Service general manager, Phil McCarthy.
"But we had unlock at the normal time, and in general the work parties and activities are happening as they normally do."
The Government called in the troops after a lengthy industrial dispute involving prison officers escalated into suspensions.
Some prison managerial staff are now doing custodial duties that they would not usually perform.
The armed forces staff have each received between three and five days' training for the job. They were yesterday said to be coping well.
But the Corrections Association, the union which represents the suspended prison officers, spoke of scenes of "chaos" in the prisons.
These were denied by Mr McCarthy, who said there had been only one incident of note, in Invercargill.
More than 1800 union members remained on picket lines last night with no sign of a breakthrough in their industrial dispute.
They want a 6 per cent pay increase, but the Government says it does not have the cash.
It has offered a two-year deal and a total rise of 3.1 per cent.
The dispute looks set to escalate, the department yesterday saying that a breakthrough would come only when the officers accepted that the best offer was already on the table.
The department's stance was yesterday backed by indications from Defence Minister Mark Burton that troops would be available as long as they were needed.
With 14,000 staff in total, a spokesman for Mr Burton said, the armed forces were unlikely to be badly affected by the prison call-up.
Corrections Minister Matt Robson yesterday faced strong criticism from Opposition MP.
Some accused him of overeacting, and others said that Army, Navy and Air Force staff would miss out on training during the dispute.
NZ First's Ron Mark said the Government would save an "fortune" by putting service staff into the jails instead of paying prison officers.
But Mr Robson said the wages saved would be offset by accommodation and food expenses.
About 900 Public Prisons Service staff are still working in the prisons.
Some are represented by the PSA, which accepted the pay offer now before the Corrections Association.
* The armed forces could be called into another industrial dispute, this time in hospitals.
Under questioning in Parliament yesterday, Health Minister Annette King would not rule out the possibility that troops may be used to care for patients at hospitals in Christchurch, where nurses are threatening to strike.
The Canterbury District Health Board was "considering all options" if the strike went ahead.
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