Leigh Marsh: Corrections Commissioner of Services on the inquiry into the Waikeria Prison riot

Corrections is acknowledging an inquiry into the Waikeria Prison riot which has found multiple issues with preparedness and communications. 

The department commissioned the report after the near week long violence left a building engulfed in flames in late December 2020. 

Commissioner of Services, Leigh Marsh says it's important to remember the event was a deliberate act by a group of violent individuals who put lives at risk. 

Despite the findings, he told Mike Hosking that he praised his staff on the scene. 

Marsh suggests the report points more to system processes and training issues, which they've invested in in recent years. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The report into the y Carrier prison riot is out.
We take you back to New Years of twenty twenty.
At least twenty one prisoners unhappy with their living conditions,
fought with Corrections officers and that fires. The inquiries found
significant issues with the Department of Corrections and preparedness for
the riot and the way staff handled the event. So
Lee Marsh is the Commissioner for Custodial Services at Corrections
and is with us. Very good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
How good morning, Mike.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
You're disappointed in what you found, I'm not.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
It was certainly a lot of learnings for us. I
think the report was very helpful in identifying some areas
for us to focus on. But look, before I get
into that, I really do want to acknowledge our staff
that we often talk about and I've talked probably around
the challenge in dobb our directions officers do, and this
really does point to that. And I've no doubt that
their bravery saved lives on that day. They did a

(00:48):
phenomenal job in the worst of situations. I'm incredibly proud
of what they did. Well.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
That jaxtaposes what the reports is. See as you're unprepared,
I suggest that.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Our staff did an incredible job on the day and
their actions resulted in no loss of life during that event.
But let's not lose sight of the fact that this
event was a deliberate act by a group of very
violent individuals who deliberately put lives at risk. This was
a choice by them to do that. I would suggest
the report points more to our systems, processes and training,
which is what we've really focused and invested in over

(01:20):
the last couple of years.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
So would you argue that you materially changed that should
this happen this morning somewhere, you are better prepared and
differently prepared than you were in twenty twenty.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Absolutely. I think what this identified for us across our network.
From an infrastructure perspective, we've got a range of facilities,
some arrange fact to one hundred years old, some are
only a few years old, and this has helped us
identify some of those vulnerabilities in those older facilities. If
we fix that, we've been around and made sure that
those vulnerabilities don't exist. We've heavily invested in our training

(01:54):
and our response capability. We now have a specially trained
at height team that can respond to prisoners on roofs.
We've got our advanced control and restaurant team trained and
numbers increased. We've increased and trained a further up prison negotiators,
and we've looked at enhanced tactical communication training for all
of our frontline staff so they're better equipped and more

(02:17):
confident to deal with conflict at the lower level.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
If it happened today, would you still hand out food?

Speaker 2 (02:23):
We don't hand out food. Well, we feed prisoners in
prisons obviously.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Then, but when they're on the route, do you get
a bit of KFC for them to come down, or
a bit of pizza? Hut?

Speaker 2 (02:33):
No, No, we don't do that.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
You do well, you did that then, didn't you?

Speaker 2 (02:37):
No? There is nothing to suggest in the report. I've
had no reports to me at all that KFC or
pizzas or fish and Chips or McDonald's or anything was
used during those negotiats.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
So was that most reported then, because that was widely
reported at the time. There was food flying lift right
and seen it?

Speaker 2 (02:52):
No, that was possibly another agencies events with people at
roof what.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
At the same place, not at Wykia, So it never
happened at Waikeria. What about the people who said just
leave them up there.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Who said to leave them up public lots.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
In the public said leave them uppy, Stop negotiating with them.
They want to sit on the top of the roof.
Leave them up there until they're so sick of it
they'll come down. In other words, tough enough.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Well, when it comes to negotiating in these situations, if
it is safe to do so and there is no
threat to life, we often use the tactic of waiting
for people. I'm quite frank. If someone sat on a
roof peacefully protesting and it starts to rain, they normally
come down. But the reality of this is it wasn't
a peaceful protest. These individuals were deliberately trying to burn

(03:39):
the building down and destroy it. They were putting lives
at risk. And when you read the report, they targeted
individuals and deliberately put their lives at rest with their actions.
Good stuff that we have no choice.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
All right, Lee, appreciate it very much, Lee Marsh who's
the Corrections Commissioner Custodial Services, and we are checking on
the reportage. I may have had the building wrong, maybe
that was somewhere else. I thought it was a thing
everywhere certainly. I remember very thought it was white carrier,
very distinctly. The business downtown Auckland, where they climbed up
in that clock tower or whatever it dives in the
busy negotiating over food. For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast,

(04:09):
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