Gangs Are Running New Zealand’s Prisons, New Report Says

The situation is so bad that gang members should be segregated from the rest of the prison population to allow staff to regain control, the report recommends.

Outside view of Mt Eden Prison in Auckland, New Zealand. Phil Walter/Getty Images

There is an “informal hierarchy” among prisoners in New Zealand jails, with gang members generally at the top, enforcing “informal rules and codes, which are often constructed with their own interests in mind,” a multi-year study of the country’s prisons has found.

Written by Jarrod Gilbert, a senior lecturer at Canterbury University and author of a book on gangs, the report “Gang Influence on New Zealand Prisons” paints a picture of jails where gangs offer “protection, access to goods, status, and brotherhood” as incentives to recruits.