An inmate at the country's highest security prison has died this afternoon in what Corrections describe as a prisoner on prisoner assault.
Police are investigating the attack in Auckland Prison at Paremoremo.
"None of the staff are injured but they've had to witness a horrific incident," Corrections Association National President Alan Whitley told Checkpoint.
"They should've had cameras on, they would have had stab-proof vests on.
"We'd like to see prisoners that are caught with shanks charged under the Criminal Justice Act, under Section 202A, it's an offence to carry an offensive weapon.
"Weapons can be fashioned from all sorts of things. They get their toothbrushes and they sharpen those on a piece of concrete and they stab somebody with a sharpened toothbrush.
"They get access to a ballpoint pen if they can and they'll use that to stab people. They'll try and find any object they can and modify it to use as a weapon."
