Unused prison section may be repaired

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32562, 23 March 1971, Page 14

Unused prison section may be repaired

(New Zealand Preet Association) AUCKLAND, March 22. The Government is believed to be considering the repair of parts of Mount Eden Prison unused since the 1965 riots, to provide extra accommodation for prisoners.

* The suggestion to renovate unsued parts of the prison was made at a meeting of the Cabinet today by the Minister of Justice (Mr Riddiford). The idea that the prison might be added to brought a strong reaction today from the Mayor of Mount Eden (Mr R. C. Mills). A strong advocate of the complete demolition of the prison, Mr Mills said when told of the suggestion: “I have not altered my opinion. I think the prison is in the wrong place." Immediately after the riot and burning of the prison in 1965, Mr Mills, then Deputy Mayor, said: “We will never get another chance like this to push it down.” The council then passed a motion urging the Government to ensure that the prison was removed.

Mr Mills said today he felt it was time to start afresh and build a new prison out of the city. The present site might be convenient for the police, but the environment did not help prisoners, shut up with no space to move.

The present site was unsuitable, next to a railway line, a motorway and two of the biggest secondary schools in New Zealand, he said. Several months ago cigarettes and a number of cans of beer were thrown by demonstrators into the prison exercise yard from the motorway. Some warders have said it is possible for someone to thrown any object from the motorway into the yard. The Mayor of Auckland (Sir Dove-Myer Robinson) said today that although the prison was not in the city boundaries, its siting was a matter of some concern.

“We would all prefer to see it well away from the city—well out in a rural area somewhere,” he said.