Mt Eden inmates for Paparua

Press, 8 April 1987, Page 1

Mt Eden inmates for Paparua

By

NEIL CLARKSON

Up to 35 Auckland prisoners are expected to transfer to Christchurch within two weeks, relieving pressure on the overcrowded Mount Eden Prison. The influx will push Paparua Prison close to capacity. The Justice Department is this week trying to reduce the number of inmates at Mount Eden after staff refused to accept new prisoners. The number of inmates last Friday reached 459, 93 more than the recommended maximum. The superintendent of Christchurch prisons, Mr Dennis Pashley, said those arriving in Christchurch

would be sentenced prisoners and not those on remand.. “We are getting 35 spread over the next two weeks. No date has been organised as far as we know to take the first lot yet,” Prison staff, when asked about the request to take 35, had indicated they would like to help the department and their North Island colleagues, Mr Pashley said.

He said he did not expect the influx to create many problems, even though numbers would approach the prison maximum of slightly more than 300. Paparua has about 270 inmates at present.

The acting superintendent of Mount Eden Prison, Mr Russell Woods, said he expected prisoners would be transferred to Christchurch, although details had yet to be finalised. Mr Woods said only seven prisoners had so far been transferred from Mount Eden, all within Auckland.

The aim, he said, was to reduce numbers to a ceiling of 354 men and 12 women. The prison housed 421 inmates yesterday. He said about 60 Inmates would be sent to prisons throughout the North Island during the next two or three days. About 20 are expected to transfer to Invercargill

Prison by the week-end, mainly younger offenders. Mr Woods said the prison would look to transfer prisoners not perceived as troublemakers and those with limited family ties in the North Island. It was hoped prisoners destined for the South Island would be flown, he said. “Whether we will be going with the Air Force or private airlines remains to be seen.” Mount Eden prison officers, who belong to a sub-group of the Public Service Association, are refusing to take further inmates until numbers drop below the recommended ceiling level.