Destructive night on roof proves costly for Corrections and earns inmate two more years behind bars

An inmate's destructive rampage across an area of the roof at Whanganui's Kaitoke Prison in March 2022 cost almost $250,000 to repair. Photo / Bevan Conley

An inmate’s trail of destruction across a prison roof during a night under the stars cost almost $250,000 to repair and earned him two more years behind bars.

The inmate at Whanganui’s Kaitoke Prison was returning to his unit on March 26 last year when he seized an opportunity to elude staff and scaled a mesh grate to gain access to an area of the roof.

He was well known to guards and his unruly behaviour, at the minimum- to high-security prison, began the previous day with an attempted assault on a guard, followed by an argument during a telephone call just before he gained access to the roof and refused to budge.

The prisoner was able to access a wide area on the roof and caused extensive damage to skylight, air conditioning units, lighting units, plumbing infrastructure, roofing iron, gutters and fire sprinklers during the night before he climbed down at 1pm the following day.

A full operational review into the events was carried out and police were contacted to consider criminal charges.

Department of Corrections regional commissioner Liz Hawthorn said the internal inquiry concluded there was nothing to suggest the night’s events were pre-meditated or planned.

The prison is looking at building a caged walkway in the area the man climbed onto the roof to help prevent it happening again but the work has yet to be fully costed, she said.

But the prison has calculated the cost to repair the damage the inmate caused.

“Repairs were completed by the middle of 2022, totalling $240,560,” Hawthorn said.

Police charged the prisoner with intentional damage of prison property and he was sentenced to a further two years’ imprisonment.

Hawthorn said the operation review also made a number of recommendations to improve safety at the prison, all of which have been done.

The steps included assessing the security risks and access ways at the prison to ensure all solutions had been considered, considering increased staff deployment to mitigate future risk despite staffing levels at the time deemed appropriate, and assessing all CCTV cameras to ensure they were well maintained.

She said staff training in emergency management and incident response was being prioritised for staff as well as developing a better understanding of prison negotiation training.