Prisoner smears faeces over cell and himself in protest at transfer

A prison inmate smeared faeces over his cell and then on himself, forcing a prisoner transfer to be postponed.

The incident, known to those inside the country’s prisons as a “dirty protest”, happened at Otago Corrections’ Facility near Milton, south of Dunedin, on Monday morning.

The prisoner responsible for the protest is understood not to have wanted to transfer to Christchurch Men’s Prison, a source said.

A spokesperson for Corrections said an incident of this nature, which are uncommon at the facility, typically resulted in an internal misconduct charge being laid, but that had not yet happened in this instance.

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Prison director Dave Miller said the prisoner “was non-compliant when staff arrived to move him from his cell to a prisoner escort vehicle”.

The prisoner covered his cell and himself in his own faeces.

Staff developed a plan to safely remove him from the cell, and control and restraint teams were assembled with appropriate protective equipment, he said.

The teams entered the cell and were able to apply handcuffs without incident. Neither staff nor the prisoner were injured.

The prisoner was able to clean himself and get changed into clean clothing, and was then moved to the prisoner escort vehicle.

The transfer, which involved eight prisoners, began after being delayed an hour due to the incident.

Miller said prisons could be volatile environments.

“We have zero tolerance for behaviour that puts our staff at risk, and any prisoner using such behaviour will be held to account for their actions.

“This may be through internal misconduct charges, a change in security classification, or referral to police for consideration of criminal prosecution.”