Prison stabbing shocks P.S.A.

Press, 7 December 1985, Page 8

Prison stabbing shocks P.S.A.

PA Wellington The Public Service Association is “shocked and dismayed” at the stabbing of a Mount Eden prison officer, and believes the incident reflects the laxity of Justice Department management practices for inmates.

The officer, stabbed by an inmate last week, has twice undergone surgery and has had his spleen removed. Mr Colin Feslier, acting president of the Public Service Association, said yesterday that the “brutal stabbing” occurred in an environment in which the nature of inmates had changed in recent years.

“Our institutions are now dominated by prisoners convicted of violent crime, and drug offenders,” Mr Feslier said.

He said prison staff felt there had been a serious breakdown in traditional values within prisons, and that they were unable to assert the control and responsibility over inmates which they once had. “While the responsibility for this incident must obviously fall on the inmate, prison staff at Mount Eden feel that the Justice Department’s lax practices ini the management of inmates must be an important causal factor,” he said.