Fourth Christchurch prison official on 'special leave' after investigation

DAVID ALEXANDER

Christchurch Men's Prison boss John Roper received a final warning after a security breach last year. He is among those on "special leave".

A senior prison guard has been placed on "special leave" following allegations of misconduct towards an inmate witness for an investigation, which revealed spying and favouritism at one of the country's largest jails.

Principal corrections officer Alastair Wood joins three senior Christchurch Men's Prison staff, including the prison director, who are subject to employment action as the fallout from a major inquiry at the facility continues.

The investigation – dubbed a security review – unearthed "extremely serious allegations" relating to a "number of substandard management and security practices" at the jail.

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It found elite guards – members of the Site Emergency Response Team (SERT) – used unauthorised hidden listening devices to spy on inmates. A gang member was given access to a cellphone during a covert information-gathering operation. Cellphones are contraband in prison.

Police are investigating a "narrow" part of the findings, understood to relate to the use of the listening devices.

Three senior staff – prison director John Roper, who is on a final warning, security manager John Cooper and residential unit manager Doug Smith – have been on "special leave" since the investigation began in May last year.

It is understood Smith, who's repeatedly declined to comment, allegedly provided the cellphone to the gang member. 

Three other staff have already been "subject to disciplinary action". It is understood the group included SERT members. At least one of them received a final warning.

On Friday, Corrections southern regional commissioner Ben Clark confirmed another staff member was on "special leave" and subject to an ongoing employment investigation "following an allegation made about his conduct toward a witness involved in a separate investigation". Stuff understands that staff member is Wood and his actions relate to the security review. He declined to comment.

Prison sources say the employment action involving Roper, Cooper and Smith, who have been sidelined on full pay, has dragged on too long. Their wages over that period, believed to total hundreds of thousands of dollars, could have funded several new prison guards to cover shortages.

"We are working through complex employment matters with the staff involved, which have potential legal outcomes and ongoing police involvement that we don't want to compromise," Clark said.

SERTs were set up at several of the country's prisons after an inquiry into a riot at Spring Hill Corrections Facility in Waikato in 2013. There were concerns the teams had a similar mandate to the Emergency Response Unit, dubbed the "goon squad", which operated out of Canterbury until it was disbanded in 2000 amid complaints of bullying inmates and aggressive treatment of members.

Last year, Stuff reported Roper and Smith received employment warnings after an inmate at the prison self-harmed while left on his own for several hours in an exercise yard in 2016. The incident took nine days to be flagged at a national level after local staff failed to report it.

Roper previously warned staff they would "face the consequences" for leaking information to the media.