An unannounced inspection of Rimutaka Prison by Corrections' Office of the Inspectorate (OOTI) found the rate of gang activity, violence and access to health care at the facility had not improved in the two years since the last visit.
The OOTI conducted an inspection of the prison in 2017 to establish a baseline, and then followed up with a second visit in October last year to see whether issues outlined during the first inspection had improved.
In a report released today, OOTI chief inspector Janis Adair said some improvements were noted at Rimutaka, including a more consistent induction process, better prisoner access to phone calls with lawyers, lower contraband levels and better food.
However, violence, gang activity and standovers continue to take place in most high security units, and prisoner access to health care was worse than the previous inspection.
In the six months to September 31, 2019, there were 69 reported prisoner-on-prisoner assaults, and 59 of those took place inside the high security units - during the same period, there were also 26 assaults on prison staff.
At time of inspection, Rimutaka Prison, near Wellington, was housing 1038 inmates and more than half (536) of those identified as gang members - the OOTI noted there had been an increase of 157 active gang members since the 2017 inspection.
"In the high security units we observed several young prisoners with gang-affiliated facial tattoos," the report said.
"Staff said the ongoing presence of gang members in the units had led to an increase in prisoner tattooing, particularly facial tattoos.
"Staff told us tattoos were typically completed in the evening by gang members sharing cells with other prisoners - staff reported they found it particularly difficult to see a younger prisoner emerge from their cell during morning unlock with a facial tattoo."
Corrections' acting national commissioner Andrew Milne said he was pleased with the positive findings in the report, but said it had recently become clear that Rimutaka Prison, as well as Arohata Prison, were in need of more senior staff.
"It has recently become clear that the size of responsibility of the Prison Director and their team who together lead both Rimutaka Prison in Upper Hutt and Arohata Prison - a women's prison in Tawa - is simply not sustainable long term," Milne said.
"We are now in the process of recruiting a Prison Director for Arohata Prison."
Milne said the latest report was "helpful" as it had pointed out challenges for the prison to continue to address, including facial tattooing.
"It's clear that the prevalence of tattoos, including facial tattoos is an area of concern for staff, particularly on young people," Milne said.
A new tattoo working group had been established, and Milne said staff were confident the introduction of that, as well as a unit for prisoners aged under 25, would help reduce rates of tattooing.
Wait times for non-urgent medical appointments were still more than two weeks, the report found, and prisoners could wait more than a month to see a dentist.
Milne did not directly respond to the wait times, but did acknowledge findings around broken equipment in the prison's high dependency unit, and said it would be remedied.
He said the prison's new on-site health facility had been completed, but that "it is not currently able to be used for direct patient care due to resourcing".
The report also raised concerns about searches of prisoners taking place at Rimutaka, with the OOTI finding in 2017 that "with the exception of three rubdown searches in HM1 and Unit 7, none of the rubdown searches we observed were sufficiently thorough to detect any unauthorised items that prisoners might have concealed.
Despite the national commissioner promising to improve search protocols, the latest follow up inspection found the same issue was still present.
"Most rubdown searches we observed were not conducted appropriately," the report said.
"In some instances, staff did not undertake all necessary prisoner searches, for example, when prisoners were entering the yards in the high security units."
Milne did not directly respond to the issue around searches, but did not the low overall level of contraband found within the prison, as was noted in the report.
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