September 2004Police <strong>New</strong>s The Voice of PolicePass theprisoner– ahoaryoldchestnutBy Steve Plowman, Edi<strong>to</strong>r, Police <strong>New</strong>sThere’s an old adage, which states: “The more things change,the more they stay the same.” Perhaps the author had the hoarychestnut of what <strong>to</strong> do with rem<strong>and</strong> prisoners when prisonmusters overflow, in mind when he or she penned that phrase.Police officers around the country have <strong>to</strong>ld Police <strong>New</strong>s of theincreased risks they face - some have been attacked - as a resul<strong>to</strong>f prison overcrowding, which has resulted in rem<strong>and</strong> prisonersbeing housed in police cells.Police holding cells are designed for short-term stays only.The Police Association has registered its disapproval of thesituation with both Corrections <strong>and</strong> Police Department officials<strong>and</strong> is moni<strong>to</strong>ring the situation closely. It is involved in ongoingdiscussions with both parties in a bid <strong>to</strong> resolve the issues.Picking up the piecesPolice Association President, Greg O’Connor, <strong>to</strong>ld Police <strong>New</strong>s:“Underestimation of the rem<strong>and</strong> prisoner by Corrections hasplaced police officers in an invidious position. Comm<strong>and</strong>ers <strong>and</strong>controllers will not only be forced <strong>to</strong> place staff at greater risk,but will be reducing their service <strong>to</strong> the public. Once again, thePolice become an agency left <strong>to</strong> pickup the pieces of failure ingovernment planning.”Recently in Auckl<strong>and</strong>, a rem<strong>and</strong> prisoner allegedly dragged apolicewoman in<strong>to</strong> a holding cell <strong>and</strong> attacked her. He is facingassault charges as a result of the incident.One of the police officers spoken <strong>to</strong> by Police <strong>New</strong>s said that whilethe situation was placing officers at risk it was also “far fromideal” for rem<strong>and</strong> prisoners. Prisoners aren’t getting showeredbecause there aren’t sufficient staff <strong>to</strong> supervise them <strong>and</strong> therearen’t sufficient blankets or mattresses in some stations. Prisonersare venting their frustration on staff because they can’t get a break<strong>to</strong> have a cigarette or exercise <strong>and</strong> some prisoners, who are onPho<strong>to</strong> courtesy of Fo<strong>to</strong>press/Dean Purcell.medication, are being delivered <strong>to</strong> police holding cells without it.“Because prisoners aren’t getting the breaks or visits they areentitled <strong>to</strong>, they are resorting <strong>to</strong> disruptive <strong>and</strong> aggressivebehaviour as their frustration builds,” the officer said.IncidentsSeveral recent incidents have highlighted the danger <strong>to</strong> policestaff <strong>and</strong> rem<strong>and</strong> prisoners. Here are some examples that Police<strong>New</strong>s has become aware of:• Auckl<strong>and</strong> Central - Late shift, 29 July - three male prisonerswere delivered by Chubb security guards from Auckl<strong>and</strong>District Court. One prisoner <strong>to</strong>ld police staff he had aserious heart condition <strong>and</strong> that he had been left without hismedication. Chubb staff said they knew nothing about this.Police staff checked with the prison nurse <strong>and</strong> found that theprisoner did have a heart condition. Police asked for him <strong>to</strong> bereturned <strong>to</strong> the prison as Corrections <strong>and</strong> Police had evidentlyagreed that sick prisoners would not be sent <strong>to</strong> police holdingcells. Four days after this incident, four male <strong>and</strong> one femalerem<strong>and</strong> prisoners were delivered <strong>to</strong> Auckl<strong>and</strong> Central <strong>and</strong> twowere on medication.• Papakura - July 29 - 12 rem<strong>and</strong> prisoners arrived fromAuckl<strong>and</strong> Central Rem<strong>and</strong> Prison. One was found <strong>to</strong> be aprisoner with a heart condition, who had been transportedwithout his medication.• Papakura - August 2 - 42 prisoners (including 12 rem<strong>and</strong>prisoners) are held in a 25-cell facility. Police had <strong>to</strong> resort <strong>to</strong>using the interview, visiting <strong>and</strong> day rooms <strong>to</strong> house prisoners.• Auckl<strong>and</strong> Central - August 2, 8.04 pm - six rem<strong>and</strong> prisonersarrive from Auckl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> two rem<strong>and</strong> prisoners fromCounties-Manukau (Counties-Manukau wanted Auckl<strong>and</strong><strong>to</strong> take eight because they were overloaded with 28 prisoners160
<strong>New</strong> Zeal<strong>and</strong> Police AssociationSeptember 2004of their own). One of the Auckl<strong>and</strong> prisoners was inneed of medication. Eventually, at 9.31 pm the prisonerneeding medication was transferred back <strong>to</strong> Auckl<strong>and</strong>Central Rem<strong>and</strong> Prison <strong>and</strong> eight prisoners from Counties-Manukau were transferred <strong>to</strong> Waitakere.• Papakura - August 2 - prisoners block the holding cell<strong>to</strong>ilets with items of clothing <strong>and</strong> the area is flooded.• Auckl<strong>and</strong> Central - August 7 - 11 additional rem<strong>and</strong>prisoners are delivered despite a threshold of nine rem<strong>and</strong>prisoners being agreed. Papakura police are approached<strong>to</strong> take eight of 28 rem<strong>and</strong> prisoners in Auckl<strong>and</strong> but therequest is declined, as is a request for extra blankets <strong>and</strong>mattresses. Two Chubb security guards were called inovernight.• Manukau District Court cells - two junior constables<strong>and</strong> three Chubb guards are left in charge of 18 rem<strong>and</strong>prisoners. There is no supervisor on duty. Staff are leftwithout milk or other items for breaks. Chubb failed <strong>to</strong>leave keys <strong>to</strong> some of the gates, which in an emergencysituation, could have resulted in serious consequences.• Manukau - August 9 - two of nine rem<strong>and</strong> prisoners arefound <strong>to</strong> be asthmatics needing medication. There are 35prisoners in the cells (25 of them rem<strong>and</strong> prisoners). Thereare no mattresses <strong>to</strong> sleep on for some prisoners <strong>and</strong> onlyblankets could be issued. Police staff buy rem<strong>and</strong> prisonerscigarettes <strong>and</strong> then seek reimbursement from petty cash.• Auckl<strong>and</strong> Central - August 13 (night shift) - An officer tellsPolice <strong>New</strong>s there have been eight rem<strong>and</strong> prisoner arrivals,eight Immigration Department detainees <strong>and</strong> 12 arrests.“He says: “We don’t have sufficient mattresses <strong>and</strong> wehaven’t even reached the busy part of the night yet.”• Papakura - August 13 - Auckl<strong>and</strong> Central Rem<strong>and</strong> Prisonforgets <strong>to</strong> advise Chubb security guards that they havea rem<strong>and</strong> prisoner with bipolar disorder. He neededmedications twice daily but this was not supplied <strong>and</strong>when inquiries were made with prison staff they agreed<strong>to</strong> supply the medication but refused <strong>to</strong> have it delivered.Police had <strong>to</strong> send a constable from watch-house duty <strong>to</strong>the prison <strong>to</strong> uplift the prisoner’s medication.• Auckl<strong>and</strong> Central <strong>and</strong> Henderson - August 15 - staffmembers are attacked by rem<strong>and</strong> prisoners at each facility.• Papakura - August 16 - Prisoner numbers peak at 43.Henderson Police report running out of prisoner meals. Againrem<strong>and</strong> prisoners block the <strong>to</strong>ilets with drink containers.One officer <strong>to</strong>ld Police <strong>New</strong>s that frustration amongst rem<strong>and</strong>prisoners had built <strong>to</strong> a stage where he described them “asprowling around like animals, looking <strong>to</strong> exploit the slightestweakness.”Police officers from around the country <strong>to</strong>ld similar s<strong>to</strong>ries <strong>to</strong>Police <strong>New</strong>s. In Whangarei, prisoners were three <strong>to</strong> a cell due<strong>to</strong> overcrowding at Waikeria Prison. Police staff had <strong>to</strong> findextra mattresses for prisoners <strong>to</strong> sleep on the floor in somecases. In Dunedin, police reported that Dunedin Prison hadinsufficient beds available <strong>and</strong> so police holding cells wereoverflowing for the third time in 10 months.Further complicationsThe lack of suitable secure CYFS beds has complicated theproblem because police are now having <strong>to</strong> house youthoffenders who would normally be provided with a bed in aCYFS youth facility.In Ro<strong>to</strong>rua, two teenage girls were forced <strong>to</strong> sleep on thefloor of a police interview room because the Child Youth <strong>and</strong>Family Services (CYFS) did not have any beds available forthem. Two youths, who would normally have been in thecus<strong>to</strong>dy of CYFS, were also in police cells in Ro<strong>to</strong>rua at thesame time.In Napier <strong>and</strong> Hastings, police were forced <strong>to</strong> hire temporarycivilian jailers who were signed in as temporary constables,because Hawke’s Bay Prison was at its capacity <strong>and</strong> police didnot have the staff available <strong>to</strong> provide 24-hour coverage of theprisoners. In mid-August five prisoners who should have beenheld at Mangaroa Prison, were being held at the Napier PoliceStation while six prisoners were in the Hastings Police holdingcells.Several prisoners from Arohata Women’s Prison <strong>and</strong> severalmale inmates from Rimutaka Prison, both near Welling<strong>to</strong>n,were transferred <strong>to</strong> police cells in Upper Hutt due <strong>to</strong> prisonovercrowding last month. This was the first time in severalyears that Welling<strong>to</strong>n’s main police cell holding facility hadbeen used in this manner.‘Not a Corrections problem’Police <strong>New</strong>s underst<strong>and</strong>s that Corrections Department officials,while sympathetic <strong>to</strong> the plight of Police, don’t see it is astheir problem <strong>and</strong> are pointing <strong>to</strong> the 1987 Memor<strong>and</strong>um ofUnderst<strong>and</strong>ing between Police <strong>and</strong> Corrections as backing theiropinion. Corrections is unders<strong>to</strong>od <strong>to</strong> hold the view that whenPolice prisoners are rem<strong>and</strong>ed in<strong>to</strong> cus<strong>to</strong>dy on a rem<strong>and</strong> warrant(SP11) or sentenced warrant (SP10) the warrant is directed at‘every constable’ <strong>to</strong> deliver the offender <strong>to</strong> the Superintenden<strong>to</strong>f a prison. If Police cannot deliver the prisoner because of anoverflow in prison numbers then the prisoner should remain inPolice cus<strong>to</strong>dy until that can take place.This argument seems <strong>to</strong> belie the fact that it was Correctionsthat created the problem in the first instance, while it seeks <strong>to</strong>do a Pontius Pilate routine <strong>and</strong> wash its h<strong>and</strong>s of the wholeaffair in the second.Contingency planning seems <strong>to</strong> revolve around placingthresholds on police holding cell capacities <strong>and</strong> thentransferring prisoners in<strong>to</strong> District <strong>and</strong> High Court cells,where security guards, many of whom do not have suicidepreventiontraining, will supervise them.The Corrections Department has indicated that it expected <strong>to</strong>have accommodation for 40 women prisoners in place by thetime this issue went <strong>to</strong> press. It is promising an additional 100beds for male prisoners by September “at the earliest”. It saysthese will be “phased in, depending on when the necessarywork can be completed”.Fifteen years ago, in the NZPA <strong>New</strong>sletter I wrote a front pagearticle under the heading: “The Government plays pass theprisoner”. In writing this article, I have had a certain senseof déjà vu. Since 1989, the prison muster has continued <strong>to</strong>throw the problem back at Police. The government is buildingmore prisons but they can’t come fast enough. So Police areagain left playing “pass the prisoner” - just like 15 years ago.In two months, the Memor<strong>and</strong>um of Underst<strong>and</strong>ing is up forrenegotiation between Police <strong>and</strong> Corrections. There will bemany police officers around the country taking plenty of interestin the outcome of that process, in the hope that 15 years downthe track they won’t be revisiting the dangerous Groundhog Daytypescenarios that have once again been foisted upon them inregard <strong>to</strong> holding rem<strong>and</strong> prisoners in police cells.161
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