The Corrections Department has confirmed plans to take over Serco's management of Mt Eden Correctional Facility.
Corrections Minister Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga said this afternoon that a management team would take over the day to day running of the prison from Monday "for the immediate future".

Serco's staff would remain on site, but a Corrections Department Prison Director and their team would oversee the prison. At a press conference this afternoon, Mr Lotu-Iiga reiterated that Mt Eden Correctional Facility was a difficult prison to run because of its remand status and transient population.

"But it's important that the public of New Zealand has confidence in our prison system," he said.
The minister said Corrections' intervention was not a signal of no-confidence in Serco, and the company's management of Wiri Prison in South Auckland would not be affected by the events at Mt Eden.

Videos have emerged of prisoners fighting and using drugs in their cells, and allegations have been made in Parliament about mistreatment of prisoners. A prisoner who transferred from Mt Eden to another prison arrived with injuries, and made "serious allegations" about his treatment at the Serco-run jail.

That case had echoes of Nick Evans, who was transferred from Mt Eden to Ngawha Prison with injuries earlier this year and later died at Whangarei Hospital. Labour MP Kelvin Davis alleged that Evans' injuries were consistent with a fall from a large height, and said he had been thrown off a balcony by inmates.

As part of Serco's contract, Government has power to step in and manage the prison either on a temporary or permanent basis.