Police Intend Charging Gaol Riot Instigators

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30811, 24 July 1965, Page 1

Police Intend Charging Gaol Riot Instigators

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, July 23. Criminal charges against rebellious inmates of Auckland Prison may be recommended by the police as soon as next week. “It might be longer, but I’m hoping next week,” said Assistant Commissioner A. G. Quinn today.

Of the 400 policemen involved in containing the revolt and escorting prisoners to other institutions, only 10 are left on the job. They are detectives and uniform branch men making inquiries and taking statements. Only 36 of the 293 prisoners held at the gaol when the riot began on Tuesday morning remain there.

A hundred have been transferred to Waikeria and institutions at Wellington, Christchurch, Lake Alice, near Marton, and the Tongariro Prison farm have received 30 each.

The top security risks are under close guard in the Auckland police station cells. One man is on remand from the Magistrate’s Court, another is on committal to the Supreme Court. As both cases are due to be heard early next week the authorities saw no point in shifting and then returning the men.

Thirty-five prisoners, due for discharge before the end of the month (including eight on the day the riot broke out), have been released. The removal of prisoners was completed today when two Air Force Bristol freighters took to Ohakea men bound for the next maximum security block at Lake Alice and a bus took 10 dangerous men to Waikeria. The Auckland Prison superintendent (Mr E. G. Buckley) went to Waikeria and his deputy (Mr D. W. Byrne) went to Lake Alice. Mr Byrne will be away for several weeks. First Officer G. P. McLean is acting superintendent at Auckland Prison. About 30 warders from the 100-strong prison staff have been sent from Auckland to boost the staff at those institutions selected for alternative accommodation.

It is unlikely that any of the prisoners sent away will return to Auckland Prison, although part of the gaol is being made habitable. Already the prison is accepting new inmates from the police. About 60 men can be accommodated.

This is considered to be the limit for the temporary kitchen outside the walls. The kitchen, which has two electric stoves, used to supply the single officers’ mess. The main kitchen in the basement of the prison can probably be returned to commission without too much difficulty or expense, according to Mr A. S. Savage, assistant superintendent (administration). Principal

items of equipment the bakehouse oven, the steam press, and the gas oven—all appear to be working. The butchery, however, has been razed and its cool store has completely disappeared in smoke.

The butchery and a cell on the west side of the north wing, upstairs, seem to have been sites of the worst infernos.

The intense heat generated in the cell not only twisted the iron bed frame but warped the heavy tensile steel door. An O.H.M.S. label stuck outside bears the inscription: “No Personal Property Recoverable.” Sheets of corrugated iron

from prison roofs have been flung into the yards three storeys below. Prisbn officers are now clearing away jagged metal, bent piping, broken glass and mounds of charcoal. This afternoon they received tetanus prophylactic vaccinations. Prison officers have been working 12-hour days to dean the mess. With the main switchboard in the welfare room out of action, portable kerosene floodlights have been set up at 4 o’clock each afternoon for night security.

A bonfire still burns in the main exercise yard—set alight by the prison staff; It is being fed with the rotting meat, vegetables and other food strewn about by inmates. No prison records have been lost. “All we have suffered is a little damp from the water dripping in from the destroyed chapel overhead,” said Mr Savage.