Negotiators called in to talk six teenage inmates down from prison roof – صحيفة الصوت

A negotiation team has been called in to talk to six teenage prisoners who remain on the roof of the youth wing of Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison.

Department of Corrections’ Lower North regional commissioner Liz Hawthorn said staff responded immediately when the prisoners made it onto the roof about 2.30pm on Monday.

“We are taking all appropriate steps to ensure the prisoners’ safety and bring the incident to an end, including bringing in Advanced Control and Restraint (ACR) and Prison Negotiation (PNT) teams to engage with the prisoners,” Hawthorn said.

The inmates, aged from 17 to 19, were from the Youth Unit which had since been secured.

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The area accessed by the inmates was within the prison’s boundaries and Hawthorn said there was no threat to the security of the prison or to public safety.

The weather is cool and clear on Monday evening. Prisoners can be seen walking around on the roof yelling and laughing while six or seven Corrections staff wait on the ground below.

From the prison entrance, intermittent shouting and banging, as if the roof is being struck, can be heard. Two security guards are stopping people getting too close.

There are no police present and it is understood emergency services have been put on standby but are not required at the scene at present.

In June, a staff member at the prison was repeatedly stabbed in the head by an inmate.

Corrections Association of New Zealand president Floyd du Plessis​ called the June attack “savage, violent and unprovoked”.

In 2011, a rooftop protest was staged by a dozen inmates at the same prison. In that instance the prisoners stayed out on the roof overnight.