Gang members in prison a worry

Press, 29 February 1984, Page 8

Gang members in prison a worry

Parliamentary reporter The number of gang members in New Zealand prisons is causing concern, according to the Minister of Justice, Mr McLay. Last December, 21.4 per cent of male prison inmates had belonged to gangs, with the greatest concentration in North Island prisons. In the Auckland Maximum Security Prison (Paremoremo), a third of all inmates were gang members, he said, and virtually all the Maori inmates of Paremoremo belonged to gangs. Next door at the new Auckland Medium Security Prison, 25 per cent of all prisoners were gang members. About 40 per cent at Waikeria Youth Institution (where most were aged less than 20) belonged to gangs and about 33 per cent of those at Wanganui Prison, Mr McLay said. Equally significant was that just over 50 per cent of all gang members in prisons belonged to the Mongrel Mob. At Rolleston Prison, perhaps only a sixth of the

inmates are gang members, according to Superintendent K. L. Langley. He could not give exact figures, but he said that they were in a “small minority.” The superintendent of Paparua Prison, Mr H. S. Stroud, was not available last evening for comment about the gang numbers in the prison. Mr McLay said that generally gang members were not violent, although last year they had been involved in disturbances at the Invercargill Youth Institution and at Waikune Prison, he said. But they did pose a threat to other inmates; many fights and assaults were gang-related although this was often not reported to the staff for fear of retaliation. Problems had arisen because of gangs recruiting new members in prison, Mr McLay said, and also because of reprisals against inmates who tried to renounce their membership. The number of requests for protective segregation had increased. Many of these were believed to be

related to gang activity. The problem got more serious as the proportion of gang members in prison increased. Furthermore, the more difficult and violent troublemakers tended to be transferred to higher security institutions, and so the problems tended to increase with the security rating of the institution. Mr McLay said it was policy to try to treat prisoners with gang affiliations in the same way as other inmates, while seeking to neutralise the effects of gang membership. No status would be given to gangs in prisons, unlike the recognition given them by some Government agencies outside prison walls. “But we cannot ignore the reality of what is happening,” Mr McLay said. The position would be monitored and if further problems arose they would be dealt with “very firmly indeed.” This was just one of the problems having to be faced now that the prison population had risen above 3000 for the first time.