Auckland Prison

Facilities

Auckland Prison includes the medium-security Auckland West division, built in 1981 to relieve crowding at other institutions, particularly at Mount Eden Prison; a minimum security work and pre-release unit called Te Mahinga; and a 60-bed special treatment unit for child sex offenders, called Te Piriti. The prison holds about 650 prisoners.

Within the maximum security prison, the section (formerly) referred to as 'D Block' has a particularly harsh reputation. Conditions in it are very restrictive, and there are around three prison officers per inmate of the block.

Security

Security was upgraded significantly during the 1990s and 2000s. Rev David Connor, the prison chaplain, noted that when he moved to Paremoremo in 1984, a chain-link fence around the medium-security block was all that was required. In 2010, however, the maximum security part of the prison, East Division, is surrounded by a highly secure perimeter fence covered in razor wire. Razor wire is also laid between the unit and the fence. East Wing has only one point of entry which has a highly sensitive scanner which every person must pass through.

Anyone carrying items into East Division is required to bring them through in a clear plastic bag. Every person entering is also liable to be searched. East Division has a centralised CCTV system, with cameras monitored from the control room in the centre of the wing at all times. All cells are made of solid concrete and have bars on the windows. All exercise yards are enclosed. There is also a higher staff/prisoner ratio in east block than in other units.

West Division accommodates high-medium security prisoners. Like East Wing, it has only one point of entry and any person entering the unit is liable to be searched .There are also CCTV cameras monitored from the Guardroom, and sensors between the fences of the West Division.

There is also one minimum security unit, one low medium security unit and the Te Piriti unit which houses low security prisoners. These units have a lower level of security as prisoners in these units are deemed to be a minimal risk to public safety.

In case of a serious incident, guards have few options but to call the police, correction officers have repeatedly warned that violent inmates are becoming more of a problem (in Paremoremo and the New Zealand corrections system in general).

After a serious attack by inmates on a prison guard in July 2007, a member of the staff anonymously complained to The New Zealand Herald about security procedures being inadequate, and called the prison as being more like a 'holiday camp' for prisoners - especially in the case of those considered especially dangerous, alleging that prison management gives in to most of their demands to keep the peace.

Notorious inmates

LSD trafficker Brian Curtis was an inmate after being convicted of importing $1.5 million of LSD in 1991, until his escape in August 1993, and again after his recapture in 2001 until his release on parole in December 2007. Convicted murderer Michael Bullock escaped with Curtis and was recaptured in 1999. Dean Wickliffe has escaped from Auckland Prison twice.

Triple murderer William Bell is currently held in the maximum security 'Delta' Block. George Charlie Baker, who killed a teenage boy in a prison van, is a prisoner. Convicted murderer Antonie Dixon was being held in the maximum security area, awaiting sentencing, when he died in February 2009. Bruce Howse who killed his step-daughters was held in the maximum security area before he was transferred to Whanganui Prison for beating up Joseph Thompson in May 2005. Graeme Burton was found guilty in November 2009 of the attempted murder of Dwayne Marsh at Auckland Prison at Paremoremo and was sentenced to the indefinite term of preventive detention. Jason Somerville, who was convicted of a double murder in Christchurch in 2009, was once a prisoner in the maximum security area. Scott Watson who was convicted of the double murder in Marlborough Sounds Furneaux Lodge on January 1, 1998 was once a prisoner in the maximum security area before he was transferred to Christchurch Men's Prison.