CORRUPTING GUARDS EASY, SAYS EX-INMATE

Allegations coming out of the Rimutaka Prison corruption scandal
reflect a reality that has been going on for years, a former prisoner says.

"I'm just surprised anyone is surprised," he told The Dominion Post yesterday.

Corrections need only look at items seized in past prison searches to
see there was a problem. "Prisoners had DVD players. How did they
think something like that got in there?"

He said he could easily imagine how convicted rapist Peter McNamara
got sperm out of the prison for his wife to be artificially
inseminated. Searches were rigorous for people entering the prison,
but lax when staff and workgangs were going out.

A middle-aged, middle-class man like McNamara could relate to some of
the staff, and it would not be hard to put it across sympathetically
that he and his wife wanted a baby. "I don't think that would be a
hard sell. And they would be thinking, 'Sperm, that's not drugs or
guns.' It would not be hard," the former inmate said.

He doubted the current investigation would result in long-term
changes. "It's just something they can make a show of dealing with at
the moment."

Eleven prison guards have been suspended and the Wellington prisons
boss stood down, but guards say corruption investigators have not
found "the really big fish" in the Rimutaka corruption scandal.

Wellington regional prisons manager Dave East was stood down on
Monday, and is awaiting a decision on whether he will be suspended.
Corrections says he is not under suspicion of corruption, but an
employment investigation is under way.

The former prisoner said he had seen people who had started work at
the prison for the right reasons and wanted to do a good job, but
none had lasted more than a year.

As well as Mr East, 11 Rimutaka guards have been suspended within the
past two months, including four for corruption. Corrections chief
executive Barry Matthews says the number is expected to grow "as the
investigation at the prison continues".

Four have been suspended after "serious allegations" about their
supervision of a prisoner undergoing treatment at Wellington
Hospital. Three have been suspended in relation to alleged breaches
of the code of conduct.

Mr Matthews said employment investigations into all these staff could
take a number of weeks.

But guards and former inmates say cellphones and drugs are still
making their way into the prison. One guard told The Dominion Post:
"It's still on. It hasn't stopped because of this. It's just gone
underground. They haven't got the really big fish."

He said the guards were operating in a group, and were motivated by
money offered by the inmates.

And another former Rimutaka inmate said drugs were easy to access in
prison. "The drug industry in jail is just as active as it is on the outside."

Corrections Association president Beven Hanlon said he was pleased
that management was finally being held accountable for problems at the prison.

NZ First MP Ron Mark said he was pleased with the progress of the
investigation in the past few weeks. Corrections staff who had erred
or broken the law in the past had been allowed to "quietly slip
away", but he was glad they were now being held to account.

Prime Minister Helen Clark moved to clarify Mr Matthews' earlier
statement that there was a "culture of corruption" in Corrections,
saying: "That in itself does not say how widespread it is. It says
that Mr Matthews has problems with some individuals."