15 April
Around 80 visitor vehicles entering New Zealand’s largest prison were searched by Corrections staff on the weekend.
“The routine prison checkpoint search resulted in warning four people or excluding them from the site for carrying contraband items. Our staff worked extremely hard, vigilantly searching all 80 of these vehicles and occupants. I am very proud of their efforts in finding the items, which can often be small in size and very well hidden,” says Prison Manager Waikeria North Paul O’Byrne.
“The items found were cannabis, alcohol, drug utensils and ammunition, all things we don’t want prisoners getting hold of or coming on site. Despite the fact we have signs clearly stipulating what cannot be bought on site people continue to try and bring this stuff in. It was quite pleasing however, in this instance that only four people were found with contraband and I think this is a good indication the message is getting across.
“The first thing any visitor to a prison site should be thinking about is making sure they and their vehicles are clear of contraband. This will ensure they gain entry to the site and that they get to see the prisoners they are visiting. Sadly, this is often not the case and we have to turn away and even ban some people from the site. They miss out and the prisoners miss out, it is a lose/lose situation.”
Visitors who are caught attempting to introduce illegal items are liable to be banned from future visits to the prison for up to twelve months.
Introducing contraband into the Prison is an offence under section 141 of the Corrections Act 2004, and staff can detain visitors and refer the matter to the Police for action.
“We have a number of initiatives in place to prevent drugs and other contraband entering the prison including vehicle checkpoints like these, visitor searches and the use of drug detector dogs which means the chance we will find it just isn’t worth it.”
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