The notorious prisoner Graeme Burton has been assaulted at the country's maximum security prison.
Photo: RNZ
Burton was taken to hospital after the assault at the prison in Paremoremo, north of Auckland.
In 2007, Burton was jailed for killing Karl Kuchenbecker in the hills of Wainuiomata while on parole and tried to kill a fellow inmate by stabbing him with a sharpened steel rod the following year.
Corrections' chief custodial officer Neil Beales said prison officers acted immediately to bring the incident under control.
Burton's injuries are not thought to be life-threatening, and police are investigating the incident which is thought to be gang-related.
Burton previously served 14 years in prison for murder for a fatal stabbing outside a Wellington nightclub in 1992.
In February 2010 he received another sentence of preventive detention for the attempted murder of former Headhunter gang member Dwayne Marsh who he stabbed 27 times inside Paremoremo prison.