Staff commended for management of tense hostage situation

The outstanding leadership and management skills shown by three staff during a tense hostage situation at Auckland Prison last year were yesterday acknowledged by Corrections Chief Executive Barry Matthews.

“Yesterday I presented awards to staff for their management and successful resolution of a difficult hostage situation, as well as for the leadership they showed. I have no doubt that the actions taken by these three, with the support of other staff at Auckland Prison, resulted in no injury to any staff member or prisoner. Ultimately a peaceful end to a tense evening was achieved,” said Chief Executive Barry Matthews.

The situation unfolded in a recreation area of the Special Needs Unit at the prison on the afternoon of 27 August 2009. A volatile prisoner took an elderly prisoner hostage, triggering the prison’s emergency procedures. Staff acted immediately, securing the area, activating specialist teams of staff and calling for support from emergency services.

Jeanette Burns - Assistant Regional Manager, Tom Sherlock - Acting Assistant Prison Manager and Brian Singh - Manager Custodial Services, all received Chief Executive’s Special Commendation Awards for the roles they played as mentor, incident controller and primary negotiator during the incident.

“Corrections staff are trained to deal with hostage situations which thankfully are very rare. On a daily basis they deal with some of the most unpredictable and disturbed people, and they do this to keep our communities safe. However, Jeanette, Tom and Brian went above and beyond their duties that evening, and into the small hours of the next day.”

“Their aim was to have the situation resolved peacefully, however they also considered how the incident might affect the future management of the hostage taker.”

“Their leadership is to be commended. Staff at Auckland Prison are lucky to have the wisdom, experience and guidance of staff like these working with them.”

ENDS

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