Latest news with #LeighMarsh
RNZ News
4 days ago
- RNZ News
Spring Hill Prison lockdown ends after inmates start riot, light fires
Custodial Services Commissioner Leigh Marsh praised corrections staff for having safely brought the incident to an end, without any injury to staff or prisoners. Photo: Corrections / Chai Patel A prison riot at Spring Hill Corrections Facility in Waikato has come to an end. Fire and Emergency, St John, police and a Department of Corrections Advanced Control & Restraint team with "specialist capability" responded to the incident. Custodial Services Commissioner Leigh Marsh praised corrections staff for having safely brought the incident to an end, without any injury to staff or prisoners. About 3.30pm Saturday, a group of 11 prisoners had refused to leave the exercise yard. They lit a "small number of fires", and began damaging prison property. About two hours later all prisoners exited the yard and were secured, and the fires were put out, she said. "The incident was contained to the yard, and there was no threat to the safety of the public or the wider prison." The had been no reports of injury to any staff or prisoners, she said. "This behaviour will not be tolerated and the prisoners involved will be held to account. Corrections will carry out a review into the incident, and will also refer the matter to Police," she said. "We would like to acknowledge the support of our colleagues at FENZ, Police and Hato Hone St John in responding to this afternoon's incident." Fire and Emergency shift manager Michael Anderson said earlier five trucks, two water tankers, a ladder truck and a command unit had responded to the incident. . Police said they were advised at about 3.50pm of the disorder and fire at the facility. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- RNZ News
Prison riot underway at Waikato's Spring Hill Corrections Facility
Photo: Corrections / Chai Patel Department of Corrections staff are dealing with a riot at Waikato's Spring Hill Prison this afternoon. Fire and Emergency were called to the facility just before 3.20pm. Commissioner of Custodial Services Leigh Marsh told RNZ staff were dealing with 10 prisoners refusing to leave the exercise yard and damaging prison property. "The prison has been locked down as a precaution," she said. "The incident is contained to the yard, and there is no threat to the safety of the public or the wider prison." The prisoners had lit several small fires in the concrete exercise yard, Marsh said. Fire and Emergency shift manager Michael Anderson said five trucks, two water tankers, a ladder truck and a command unit were responding. Leigh Marsh said no staff injuries had been reported but St John were on site as a precaution. "Our Advanced Control & Restraint team with specialist capability has been dispatched to the site to assist if necessary, and we have comprehensive procedures for managing incidents where prisoners refuse to comply with staff orders." Police said they were advised around 3:50pm of a reported disorder and fire at the facility. Officers are in attendance and will assist as required. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- RNZ News
Prison riot underway at at Waikato's Spring Hill Corrections Facility
Photo: Corrections / Chai Patel Department of Corrections staff are dealing with a riot at Waikato's Spring Hill Prison this afternoon. Fire and Emergency were called to the facility just before 3.20pm. Commissioner of Custodial Services Leigh Marsh told RNZ staff were dealing with 10 prisoners refusing to leave the exercise yard and damaging prison property. "The prison has been locked down as a precaution," she said. "The incident is contained to the yard, and there is no threat to the safety of the public or the wider prison." The prisoners had lit several small fires in the concrete exercise yard, Marsh said. Fire and Emergency shift manager Michael Anderson said five trucks, two water tankers, a ladder truck and a command unit were responding. Leigh Marsh said no staff injuries had been reported but St John were on site as a precaution. "Our Advanced Control & Restraint team with specialist capability has been dispatched to the site to assist if necessary, and we have comprehensive procedures for managing incidents where prisoners refuse to comply with staff orders." Police said they were advised around 3:50pm of a reported disorder and fire at the facility. Officers are in attendance and will assist as required. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NZ Herald
5 days ago
- Health
- NZ Herald
Hawke's Bay Regional Prison set to get air conditioning before Hawke's Bay Hospital
The tender for the project describes it as the Hawke's Bay Regional Prison High Security Units Cooling Project. Corrections said the project was to meet its obligations to ensure the health and safety of staff and prisoners at Hawke's Bay Regional Prison. Taradale resident Bridie Braham, who has started an online campaign to install air conditioning at the hospital before the prison, called the situation 'a cruel irony'. She said convicted criminals would soon enjoy the luxury of air-conditioning, while patients and staff at the hospital are left to 'swelter through pain, exhaustion, and illness'. 'The injustice is glaring: justice is being kept cooler than compassion, and the people who save lives are being treated with less dignity than those who took them apart.' Department of Corrections commissioner of custodial services Leigh Marsh said frontline Corrections employees worked 'tirelessly' in the summer months to manage prisoners in hot and confined spaces and conditions, sometimes while wearing heavy equipment like stab-resistant body armour. 'Prisons can be extremely volatile environments and heat can significantly increase prisoner tension and aggression, creating a real risk that a staff member or prisoner could be seriously hurt,' he said. 'Some units at Hawke's Bay Regional Prison currently have no air-conditioning, which poses significant health and safety risks to our frontline staff and people we manage.' The installation of the air-conditioning units starts this month and is expected to be completed by early 2026. Hawke's Bay Hospital. Photo / Paul Taylor Regional head of infrastructure central at Health New Zealand, Steve Crombie, said air-conditioning was available through some areas of Hawke's Bay Hospital and the areas without it 'are being considered as part of the planning and prioritisation process for future capital expenditure'. A Health NZ spokesperson said patient safety was the organisation's highest priority and they had effective measures in place at the hospital to ensure patient safety is maintained. The spokesperson said Corrections and Health NZ did not co-ordinate asset planning and replacement. Labour's corrections spokeswoman Dr Tracey McLellan said her party was not opposed to improving conditions at the prison, but felt the Government had its priorities wrong. Corrections is currently looking into a possible expansion of Hawke's Bay Regional Prison, which Labour has also hit out at in recent weeks. 'Christopher Luxon can find millions for air-conditioning in prisons and billions for mega-prisons, but if local hospitals don't even have AC for patients and frontline staff, he's got his priorities wrong and is making things worse,' McLellan said. Hawke's Bay Regional Prison and Hawke's Bay Hospital sit in the Tukituki electorate. Tukituki National MP Catherine Wedd said she had been a 'relentless advocate for better healthcare in Hawke's Bay and ensuring we have safe communities'. 'Our Government is strongly focused on providing better healthcare in Hawke's Bay and also keeping our Hawke's Bay community safe by restoring law and order,' she said. Wedd said the Government had already invested $100 million in Hawke's Bay Hospital for a new 28-bed inpatient unit, upgraded radiology department, new Linac Cancer Treatment Machine, and modernised heart failure treatment. Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke's Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in Auckland, London, Berlin, and Napier.
RNZ News
25-06-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Christchurch Prison fuel leak: 23 properties unable to use bore water
Thousands of litres of diesel leaked after the hatch of a fuel tank was left open. Photo: Luke McPake / The Wireless Twenty-three properties around Christchurch Men's Prison are unable to drink water from their private bores, a month after a fuel leak was discovered, Corrections has confirmed. About 14,000 litres of diesel leached into the ground at the prison last month after the hatch of a fuel tank was left open as part of a programme to replace two of the three fuel tanks on site. An investigation is underway to determine how the leak happened. Corrections commissioner of custodial services Leigh Marsh said staff initially visited around 40 properties near the prison on 6 June, almost two weeks after the fuel leak. It found many properties were vacant or unoccupied, but eight were using water from private bores. Resident were told not use water for drinking, cooking or feeding stock or animals. Marsh said it had since identified a further 14 households that have been told not to drink the water. Affected properties had all been offered water; 11 households had been supplied with about 1700 litres of bottled drinking water and one property had been given two 1000-litre containers for livestock. "A small amount of the bottled water was initially provided by Corrections from stock we had on-hand, but otherwise this is all being supplied and funded by Downer and has so far cost them approximately $3000," Marsh said. Soil testing from a bore drilled where the spill happened returned a positive result on 12 June, showing diesel at a depth of three to six metres but there was no diesel present in the soil samples taken from other bores. Marsh said groundwater samples taken from the bore at the spill site had all tested clear for any hydrocarbons. A positive water sample came from a bore around 300 metres from the spill site on 28 May, but further samples from that bore and the others had consistently returned clear results. National Public Health Service medical officer of health Annabel Begg said it continued to work with technical experts from Environment Canterbury and Taumata Arowai to assess the risk to the affected residents reliant on private bore water. She said water sampling and testing was ongoing to assess the risk to nearby, downgradient water supplies. The public heath service would continue to take a precautionary approach until it could be confidently established that the leak was contained within the prison boundary. "At this stage there is no change to the advice to discontinue using your private supply for drinking water, tooth brushing and for food preparation. However, it is safe to continue showering or bathing and washing clothes with water," she said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
