Six inmates spent the night on the roof of the Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison last night after accessing the area on Monday afternoon.
Chief Custodial Officer Neil Beales said a negotiation yeam had been “engaging with the prisoner group throughout the night”, but had been unable to bring an end to standoff.
“We are taking all appropriate steps to ensure the prisoners’ safety and bring the incident to an end,” he said.
On Monday, 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.
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Advanced Control and Restraint (ACR) and Prison Negotiation (PNT) teams were brought in on Monday afternoon, she said.
The inmates, aged from 17 to 19, were from the Youth Unit which had since been secured.
One of the six prisoners who climbed onto the roof of a wing at Hawke’s Bay Prison.
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 could be seen walking around on the roof yelling and laughing while six or seven Corrections staff wait on the ground below.
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Prison staff are keeping watch on the prisoners who climbed on the roof.
From the prison entrance, intermittent shouting and banging, as if the roof was being struck, could be heard. Two security guards were stopping people getting too close.
Police confirmed on Tuesday morning they were not attending the incident at this stage.
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The entrance to Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison.
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.
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