Waikeria Prison surrender: Family members claim complaints about 'disgusting' conditions made, despite Corrections saying otherwise
Sunday, 3 January 2021
Family members of the protesters at Waikeria Prison in Waikato say their complaints about conditions at the prison were dismissed before the protest took place.
Sixteen prisoners surrendered and were escorted out about midday Sunday by Rawiri Waititi, co-leader of the Māori Party.
During the five-night standoff, the prisoners lit multiple fires which destroyed the “top jail” facility at the prison, and threw debris at staffers from the rooftops.
At a press conference in Wellington on Sunday, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis said the men hadn't raised any complaints about living conditions before the protest. But whānau of the prisoners say that’s not true.
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**
In a statement issued through People Against Prisons Aotearoa, whānau members said they tried “many times” to make complaints to the prison and the Department of Corrections and were “dismissed every time”.
“Our loved ones inside also tried many times to make complaints, but were denied access to PC01 complaint forms.
“With no other options at their disposal, our loved ones chose to take action, and we support their decision.”
They claimed the jail was “unfit for humans to live in”.
“… the jail was unhygienic and conditions inside were disgusting. Corrections still forced our loved ones to endure this treatment.”
The majority of the men involved were members of the Mongols and Comancheros, Davis said. Five were deportees from Australia, with three subject to returning offender orders because of their criminal convictions.
After a haka and a karakia, the men came down from the roof to a pie and a Coke, Waititi told media outside the prison on Sunday.
Davis said the men destroyed the top jail facility, and that shouldn't be glorified.
The Waikeria building was “not fit for anything now”, and remand prisoners who were at that facility had to be sent across the country by Corrections, many further from their families.
“[The men] damaged property worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and they put their own lives and the health and safety of staff and other prisoners at risk.”
Police would decide if the men would be charged for destruction of the facility.
Two separate internal reviews have been commissioned after Davis asked Corrections to investigate how the situation escalated to the extent it did.
One is an operational review led by the chief custodial officer, which was due to be finished in three months.
A wider review undertaken through the office of the chief inspector would also take place looking at the wider issues which led to the incident. This was expected to take more than six months.
The Human Rights Commission has called for a further independent inquiry by the Ombudsman.
Chief Commissioner Paul Hunt said while there was “no shortage of reports and recommendations … progress is glacial”.
Davis didn't make any public comments during the disorder, but said on Sunday that he got hourly briefings most days.
“These men wanted political attention, and unfortunately those who waded into the issue in order to generate headlines only helped to embolden them, extend the duration of the event, and increase the risk to safety,' he said.
Waititi said the surrendering prisoners were “tired and hungry, but still very determined to see change'.
“They have achieved what they set out to do when they embarked on bringing attention to their maltreatment in prison.”
Even prison guards acknowledged the unit was in an unacceptable state, Waititi said.
“Whilst people that do crime must serve their time, they must also be treated in a just and humane way.”
“These men are not animals, they are humans; they are brothers, fathers and sons and are deserving of better treatment.”
He acknowledged the authorities involved and said he was elated at the outcome, noting authorities allowed “Māori to deal with our own in a Māori way”.
At Sunday’s press conference in Wellington, Corrections incident controller Jeanette Burns said the prisoners fired missiles at staff, and she thanked staff dealing with the protest.
Corrections earlier warned the situation was “incredibly volatile”, mentioning tensions between group members, access to weapons and possibly to drugs from the dispensary.
Prisoners lit fires within the facility overnight, made threats towards staff and police and threw debris at them from the roof of the buildings, Corrections said.
”There is no excuse for what these men have done,” Corrections chief executive Jeremy Lightfoot said.
Burns said the men’s point had been made.
Corrections was currently building a new facility to replace the existing top jail facility, which would be completed in 2022, she said.
Meanwhile, criminal justice advocacy groups have said the men shouldn't be charged.
“We urge compassion towards the men who have been protesting breaches of their legal and human rights,” a statement from ActionStation, People Against Prisons Aotearoa, and JustSpeak said.
Corrections needed to address systemic issues which made the protest necessary, the groups said.
Earlier, JustSpeak director Tania Sawicki Mead said the men were “shining a light on … inhumane conditions'.
Basic human rights they were demanding included clean drinking water, hygienic eating facilities, and toilet paper and clean clothes, Sawicki Mead said.
“Abject conditions” were recently highlighted in a report by the Chief Ombudsman after an unannounced inspection of the prison, Sawicki Mead said.
The calls were echoed by Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand.
”We don’t want a system that ignores people in prison so much that they end up resorting to desperate measures to be heard,' executive director Me De Ronde said.
The riot began at Waikeria after inmates started several fires on Tuesday and then took control of the prison's top jail.
Photos taken by Stuff showed an entire wing, at least 100 metres long, destroyed with the roof a tangled web of debris.