INMATE SHOT, WARDERS HURT IN MT EDEN RIOT

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32561, 22 March 1971, Page 1

INMATE SHOT, WARDERS HURT IN MT EDEN RIOT

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, March 21. One prisoner was shot in the thigh, six warders were injured and 23 prisoners were dragged to safety through flames by prison staff at the height of the three-hour riot and fires at Mount Eden prison yesterday.

The injured prisoner was wounded by one of about 18 pistol shots fired by prison officers to prevent the 83 rampaging prisoners from breaking into prison kitchens from the main exercise yard.

Warders braved a barrage of stones and wood thrown by the rioters to play fire hoses on two fires lit in the exercise yard.

Warders unlocked 23 inmates from their cells in the east wing when flames from one of the fires threatened to trap them. They were led to safety by the warders through the flames.

The rioters started the fires, and fed them, with diesel fuel they got after smashing their way through a grille from the yard into a tunnel. Members of the Auckland Armed Offenders Squad and scores of police, some from as far away as Papakura and Otahuhu, were rushed to the prison in case a mass escape was attempted. They stood by and took no part in putting the riot down. Firemen laid hoses from fire tenders and hydrants into the prison, but warders played them on to the fires Access roads to the prison, including the Khyber Pass motorway turn-off ramp, were closed by the police and traffic officers. The prisoners hurled stones and debris at police stationed on the ramp. None were hit but a score of holes were smashed in the wall at the side of the road. Twelve prison officers from the maximum security prison at Paremoremo were hurriedly taken by bus to Mount Eden Prison. Several police dogs were stationed inside the prison, again as a precaution against escapes. Injured prison officers were led at intervals from the prison and were taken to hospital for treatment. None were seriously injured.

In blanket The injured prisoner was carried nearly naked in a blanket to a waiting ambulance. He was later admitted to Auckland Hospital, and his condition is reported to be satisfactory. Prison staff and some inmates spent hours today cleaning up the wreckage and repairing the . damage caused by the rioters. Water was still an inch deep at places inside the walls. Last night warders were splashing in ankle-deep water.

The exercise yard was left a mass of burned wreckage, smashed windows and woodwork. Toilets off the yards were smashed to pieces. A large heap of wet, black ashes in the middle of the yard was all that was left of the bonfire lit by the prisoners. Splintered pieces of wood and burned clothing littered the ground. Above the entrance to the east wing and main block from the yard, blackened stonework testified to the size of the fire lit there. The floor just inside was still greasy with diesel fuel and water.

The superintendent (Mr J. Hobson) said he was aware yesterday morning that something was in the air. Called in “At 4.30 p.m. all prisoners were in the exercise yard and they were called in. All of them came except 83. I went into the yard and spoke to them and they gave me a list of grievances they had prepared. “They were adamant they were going to sit it out in the yard, all night if necessary. I assured them I would pass their grievances on, and 1 have done so.” Mr Hobson said he was then mainly concerned with confining the 83 to the yard, so as not to involve any other prisoners. He was telephoning his head office when the trouble started. “At 5.25 they started smashing up trellis work, seats, benches and woodwork in the yard,” he said. “Some armed themselves with batons. They set up a barricade against the entrance to the east wing.

“There was a compressor in the tunnel under the east wing between two grilles which were locked with chains and .padlocks. It was being used to put a new sump in the exercise yard. “With their combined

weight against one grille they snapped the chain and got the compressor and a 44-gal-lon drum of diesel fuel that was about half full. They then lit the fires. Dragged to safety "Prison officers unlocked inmates and dragged them to safety through the flames that had got inside.” He said that prison officers were at this stage manning hoses at grilles and windows overlooking the yard. The rioters were throwing heavy stones and pieces of brick at them, and several were hit.

the prisoners then used the compressor as a ram to burst through a locked grille into the north wing. This grille led into a disused kit locker and from there they could have broken into the kitchens to get food. They could also have broken out on to the security block. “I was concerned that they didn't get to any food. Otherwise they could have stayed in the yard for any time,” said Mr Hobson. “I issued pistols to prison officers and instructed them to fire high, above their heads or low, at their legs, if they looked like getting into the kitchens. Hit by shot “At 7.45 one inmate was hit by a pistol shot.” He said the bullet passed through the fleshy part of the prisoner’s thigh. About 18 shots were fired by warders, but those manning sentry boxes above the yard did not fire their shotguns. It was not certain where

the shot that hit the prisoner was fired from. At the time he was standing outside the smashed grille to the north wing. “I then used a loud hailer and told the prisoners to bring the wounded man to the east wing grille,” Mt Hobson said.

“I also said that if any men wanted to come out they were to do so six at a time. “Once the wounded man was inside they all came in. They were back in their cells by 8.30.” He. said about 20 of the 83 prisopers took no part in the destruction. They had claimed later they were intimidated by the others.

Five of the six prison officers injured were treated at Auckland Hospital, but all were discharged later. They are:— Third Officer J. A. Moyle, deep cut to the forehead; Prison Officers R. Hamilton, bruising to the knee, E. C. Marchant, iterations to the head and face, broken dentures, R. A. Pownall, facial cuts, and H. M. F. Waterreus, severe bruising to the back. For Prison Officer Marchant, his experience yesterday was his second with rioting prisoners. He was the first officer to be attacked when the 1965 prison riot be.gan. He was beaten to the ground with fists and an iron bar and was threatened with a pistol. The wounded prisoner, whose name prison authorities would not release, was admitted to hospital with a bullet wound in the thigh and an abrasion to the head,