Staff feared they would be "dragging bodies out" as the smoke grew thicker. Photo: RNZ/ Nick Monro
Corrections was ill-prepared and responded poorly to an "unprecedented" riot in which inmates feared they would be burned alive, a prison watchdog says.
The riot at Waikeria Prison, which began on 29 December 2020, saw 17 prisoners climb onto the roof of a high-security unit and enter a stand-off with officials.
They came down six days later after causing more than $50 million of damage and burning the unit known as the 'top jail' to the ground.
The Office of Inspectorate's report into the riot, released on Friday, has revealed previously unknown details of what happened on the day the riot began, including prison officers' fears they had left the evacuation too late and would be "dragging bodies out".
The report also pinned the blame for the riot on Corrections, saying it was "caused by a series of inadequate responses to escalating events".
How the riot unfolded
Twenty-one remand prisoners were in yard 116 of the top jail at 10am, when a Corrections officer saw a prisoner giving another inmate a haircut with a disposable razor. The guard asked for the blade to be handed over but the prisoner declined. Staff later told the prisoners to leave the yard, but they refused to comply.
"Some of the men began covering themselves in soap in anticipation of resisting removal from the yard. The two CCTV cameras in the yard were covered with wet toilet paper and some prisoners covered their faces with their t-shirts and their eyes with plastic food wrap," the report said.
After finally handing over the razor, the prisoners held "what appeared to be a brief meeting", and made several made calls from a payphone in the yard.
Some inmates were seen smoking cannabis soon after, meaning they had access to both the drug and a source of ignition, such as a lighter or matches. However, the Corrections officers who saw this did not take any action.
About two hours later, at 1.45pm, the cameras in the yard were covered again. A dozen inmates asked to leave but were prevented from doing so by other inmates. Staff called a 'Code Blue' two minutes later, asking for back-up. By 1.50pm, the first fires had been lit in the yard.
About an hour and a half later, at 3.20pm, nine prisoners, who were all gang members, were able to break the mesh grille covering the yard and climb onto the top jail's roof.
Smoke can be seen billowing from Waikeria Prison on the sixth day of the riot. Photo: RNZ/ Riley Kennedy
Prison officers fired pepper spray through the yard gate and called a 'Code Red' to set up an emergency response. The rest of the prisoners were taken out of the yard from 4.30pm.
From the roof, the prisoners were able to access other areas of the jail and began breaking other inmates out of their cells by using a large metal object as a battering ram. By 5.50pm they had broken out seven members of the Mongols gang and one Comanchero.
Two prisoners who were unwilling to leave their cells did so under threat of being burned or thrown off the roof. One later told a Corrections officer: "They ripped my bars open, grabbed all our food then started to burn us alive".
An additional 12 inmates went onto the roof, and a number of further fires were lit in the top jail.
The report said the riot "presented a real risk to life" and was "unprecedented" in New Zealand's correctional history.
'Inadequate responses'
"Ultimately, the riot was caused by a series of inadequate responses to escalating events," the report said.
It found some Corrections officers thought the situation had been resolved once the razor had been given back, while others were reluctant to clear the yard because they feared there were not enough staff. Meanwhile, others escalated the tension by being "unnecessarily confrontational".
"More than five hours passed from the time the razor was observed to the time the prisoners broke through the yard's mesh grille. It is plain in hindsight that earlier intervention should have occurred, and did not, primarily because Corrections officers did not respond to the concerted indiscipline that occurred after the razor had been removed from the yard."
Chief inspector Janis Adair said there was no evidence the riot was pre-planned, instead describing it as "opportunistic in nature". However, she was concerned to find the possibility of a riot was not mentioned on the prison's risk register, particularly given rising tensions at the prison and the condition of the facilities.
"We know that the top jail was more than 100 years old, and that the high-security units I described as not conducive to humane treatment of prisoners," she said.
"The risk of tension was well known and well understood at the site. I'm absolutely certain whilst the riot in itself wasn't inevitable, it was at least predictable."
Parts of the prison were ageing and "not conducive to humane treatment of prisoners". Photo: RNZ / Dan Cook
Prisoners feared they would die
The report also revealed about 200 prisoners remained locked in their cells for hours after fires were lit, many struggling to breathe and fearing they were going to die.
"They felt very much in a helpless and hopeless state. They were secured in their locked cells and were wholly dependent on staff evacuating them," Adair said.
"They did describe this as being a terrifying ordeal where they could smell smoke, they could see flames. They were obviously attempting to summon the help and assistance of staff who were obviously (busy) responding to the situation."
The evacuation began one prisoner at a time at 8.45pm, before an order for all remaining inmates to be evacuated from the top jail was issued just after 10pm. The report showed the last prisoners were rescued just after midnight.
Two men were found semi-conscious, one had his head down the toilet, and two were missed entirely during the initial evacuation but were found during a final sweep.
The report revealed one Corrections officer's comments when the evacuation was first announced: "I think we'll be lucky if we don't have one dead ... the smoke is that bad and they can't get out of their cells ... we should have done this hours ago … they'll be dragging bodies out."
Watchdog says 2020 prison riot could have been prevented
Adair said the "courageous actions" of staff meant the top jail was evacuated without loss of life.
She praised the staff who went back into the burning building and risked their lives to rescue inmates.
"It really was an unprecedented event and terrifying for everyone involved," she told Morning Report.
In the early stages she said staff thought they had resolved the altercation in the yard and clearly they hadn't.
"This rapidly really became a volatile, dangerous and rapidly evolving situation."
Over the course of the six days the rioters undertook destruction "on an unprecedented scale", setting close to 40 fires.
The police charged 17 prisoners who took part in the riot.
Riot had 'profound effect' on staff
Corrections has accepted 117 of the 121 recommendations from the report and partially accepted another. It has not accepted three of the findings.
Adair was confident significant progress had been made since the riot.
She intended to make six-monthly checks to ensure improvements continued.
National Commissioner Leigh Marsh said the department had improved training, emergency management procedures, and prison facilities in the wake of the riot.
Twenty-eight staff were now qualified to safely cordon, contain, and negotiate with prisoners on rooftops, and on-site emergency response teams were being trained to actively counter violence, aggression and contraband in prisons. Tactical equipment like gas masks and body armour were being better managed, and Corrections was now better prepared to respond to disorder over holiday periods.
Corrections Commissioner on 2020 prison riot inquiry
Corrections was reviewing evacuation guidelines and the integrity of yard coverings, mesh, and roof tops.
"It is critical we are prepared to respond to significant incidents in our prisons ... there is no denying this was an incident of considerable magnitude that we must learn from," Marsh said.
"While the prisoners described their actions as a protest, their behaviour was violent and put people's lives at risk. It caused a huge amount of trauma for the 195 prisoners who were evacuated from the top jail during the fires and significantly impacted the 500 men who remained on site, as well as their family and friends.
"It continues to significantly impact our staff who were involved in the response. There was no excuse for what these men did."
The riot had a "profound effect" on staff, which saw 31 work-related ACC claims lodged, and 229 staff provided with psychological first aid. Some staff were medically retired, and continued to receive weekly compensation and rehabilitation.
"We remain proud of the professionalism and bravery shown by our staff in responding to the incident at Waikeria Prison. Staff did the very best they could in dangerous and volatile circumstances and their courage ultimately ensured minimal injuries and importantly that no lives were lost."
The total cost of the damage caused was $51.6m. Insurance covered $23.1m, leaving $28.5m to be covered by Corrections.
In 2021, the government approved $1.35m for ex-gratia payments to be made to Corrections staff and prisoners who lost personal property as a result of the riot. The top jail was demolished the same year.