Prison Safety – Second Person Dies in Mount Eden Prison

This second death was discovered on Thursday morning, less than a week after Andrew Chan Chui was found dead in the same prison. Dr. Emmy Rākete, spokesperson for PAPA and a lecturer in criminology at the University of Auckland, says the string of deaths raises concerns about the facility’s management.  

“Mount Eden Prison is a death trap,” says Dr. Rākete. “I am extremely concerned that prison management either can’t or won’t ensure the safety of the people they’re locking up.”

Sources informed Dr. Rākete that emergency services were called to Mount Eden Corrections Facility on the morning of Thursday October 3rd, where they declared that the patient was deceased almost immediately. Correspondence from within the Department of Corrections, provided to Dr. Rākete, confirms that a death occurred in Mount Eden Corrections Facility on Thursday.

“This is the third death in Mount Eden Prison this year. Andrew Chan Chui was murdered in his cell last week. Another man took his own life in Mount Eden Prison in June. There is a pattern of violence and death in Mount Eden Prison that Dion Paki, the director of the prison, needs to be held accountable for. How many more people will Mount Eden Prison let die?”

People Against Prisons Aotearoa and the Chan Chui family will be holding a candlelight vigil outside of Mount Eden Corrections Facility tomorrow, October 5th, at 7:30pm.