The Death Of Jason Palmer - Another Prison Officers Thoughts

Ex Marine, Jason Palmer, was a relatively recent immigrant to New Zealand, he came over from the States eight years ago. We’re not sure what he did for a living in the intervening years or why 6 months ago he joined the Corrections service at Spring Hill Prison. A few days ago he died from injuries sustained in an assault by an un-named member of the Killer Beez street gang at that prison.

His death has highlighted the dangerous position that some officers face on a daily basis in NZ’s prisons and how vulnerable some of them feel without stab vests and batons. Mr Palmer had himself described his job as a “hand-to-hand combat situation” and had been trying to transfer to another prison because he felt unsafe at Spring Hill.

Many migrants end up working in the corrections service, often because they’re unable to find suitable and stable work in other occupations.

These posts are from a British man who recently joined the corrections service after living  in the South Island for a number of years. His background is in the trades.  His story could be a ‘Migrants’ Tale’ .  Is it taken from an emigration forum:

“A fellow Prison Officer died as a result of an assault and as i do this job day to day and can understand what goes on in these places, my heart goes out to his family and collegues who witnessed it. When will the GOVT realise we need side batons and cs spray, but oh no it will hurt prisoners feelings.
…A very sad time for all involved, we enter a wing in the mornings and after issuing a razor if they want one, we then collect them all and after that unlock one landing at a time, when issuing razors we only get a reply from them and a face to name muster check, some are still sleepy and we get a grunt, occasionally we get told to F##k off or other nice friendly words or greetings, you can sort of judge the way they will come out of their cells first thing, after a while you get to know their moods and traits, we have some on methadone programs, and they can be a handful in the mornings before their meds, we have ones with ADHD, ODD and all sorts of phychopathic behaviours, nice ay, so unlocking in the day any time can be a dangerous thing.
Apart from that we manage our guys very well and look after each others backs.
…Yes this was a tragety waiting to happen, when we open the cell doors first thing in the morning you dont know what you are going to get, thye wake up shitty or wake up happy, and although we unlock a guy who is on a mangement plan with 3 officers, if that guy comes out full blast, then its game on, if they privatise Prisons we will all leave the job as it will get worse, safety wise, personally we need pepper spray and side batons.
This week we will get about 40 from the North Island, not sure why but we have had theses inmates before and they are trouble, so watch this space, we should get them this week, apparently they are those gang called the Killa Bees, so we will have a right mix to deal with, Mongrel Mob, Black Power, White Power, Crypts and now the Bees so let the fun begin, i do sometimes wonder as i walk down the wing with all these eyes watching your every move, not all the ones we have are up for smashing us, but the odd few go for it, the staff on my wing are awesome, we all watch where are collegues are and make sure we are all safe, the main satisfying thing is locking this scum bags up and keeping them away from the communities.
It is a satisfying career and the commardiery ( excuse the spelling ) is fantastic, we have fun each day with each other and the prisoners as well, i do really enjoy the job, and the wife works there to, and she loves it to, the good days far out weigh the bad, and we try to keep it that way.
But my thoughts are with our collegues family and the prison have set up a fund collection, no consulation, but a way of helping.”

N… Don’t forget to include his son Taylor back in Kingsville, Texas.

It’s unclear what proportion of the present prison population is made up of gang members.  A 2003 study showed that 11.3% of prison inmates were gang members. Of these, about a third each were Mongrel Mob or Black Power, with no other gangs having more than 5% of the imprisoned gang population. (source) A great deal more of them are free and walking around the streets of New Zealand.
According to the book Gangs by Ross Kemp, New Zealand has more gangs per head then any other country in the world, with about seventy major gangs and over 4,000 patched members in a population of about 4,000,000 people.

The greater part of the Kiwi prison population seems to be comprised of people with mental health disorders. If so one has to ask are prison officers are given specific training on how to deal with them and should officers be provided with more protective equipment?

A national Study of Psychiatric Morbidity in NZ Prisons may show evidence that a failure to provide adequate treatment and support to people with mental illnesses is reflected in the high number of convicts with mental health disorders. Nearly 60% of all inmates in NZ have at least one personality disorder:

“The results indicate a significantly higher rate of mental disorder than that in the community. This is particularly so for schizophrenia, for bipolar disorder, for major depression, for obsessive compulsive disorder and for post traumatic stress disorder. All these conditions are associated with high levels of distress and disability, especially during the acute phases of these illnesses.
The National Study also revealed that nearly 60 percent of all inmates have at least one major personality disorder.
The National Study estimates that all inmates who have a current diagnosis of schizophrenia or a related disorder and bipolar disorder will require active psychiatric treatment and of those, 135 will require inpatient treatment. The life-time and one-month prevalence for these disorders is significantly higher than in the community. Of those inmates in the acute phase of these disorders, 30.6 percent are currently receiving mental health medication.”

This post may be updated…

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Jason Palmer Wanted To Get Out, Felt Unsafe

Earlier today we wrote about the tragic death of American immigrant Jason Palmer, a corrections officer at Spring Hill Prison. Mr Palmer died after an assault by an inmate who is alleged to be a member of the Killer Beez gang.

Mr Palmer, an ex member of the  US Marine Corp,  had been living in New Zealand for eight years but something led to him joining the prison service six months ago, a job he had reportedly described as a “hand-to-hand combat situation“

The Waikato Times has published an update to their earlier reporting, in it they say that Mr Palmer had felt unsafe at the prison and had wanted to leave:

Spring Hill prison guard Jason Palmer had fears for his safety and had been contemplating a transfer before he was fatally assaulted on Saturday…
The US-born father of two was with two other prison officers who went to let the prisoner out of his single cell in the north Waikato prison.
Corrections Association president Beven Hanlon said Mr Palmer wanted out of Spring Hill. “Jason was looking for a transfer. He felt unsafe there.”
Mr Hanlon also confirmed five senior Spring Hill prison guards had transferred to Waikeria Prison over the past 12 months due to fears for their safety.
The Times understands two of those officers took a demotion, with one taking a pay cut of around $12,000 a year.”

Mr Hanlon says prison officers need greater protection against inmates:

“The police walk around with anti-stab vests, battens and pepper spray and are within a radio call. They have Tasers and even firearms. We’re not talking about firearms, were talking about everything else. At the moment, they know all we’ve got is a cotton uniform.”
Mr Hanlon says what is even more tragic is that they had told Corrections a number of times they were worried about staff security at Spring Hill.”

New Zealand has one of the world’s highest incarceration rates at 186 people per 100,000 population and there are 19 prisons.

The country is already under massive pressure trying to cope with an ever increasing prison population.
A massive recruitment drive in Western Australia may push Kiwi jails to the brink of collapse, according to Mr Hanlon almost a quarter of the officers at one prison have already made it through the first round of the selection process:

“We have one prison, Rimutaka, in Wellington, with 1200 prisoners and 400 staff – and over 90 of their officers have made it through the first stage of Western Australian recruitment.

Mr Palmer’s death and a growing unease over rates of pay and personal safety is likely to spur more into making the decision to leave.


A former Invercargill prison officer has told the press that the attack on Mr Palmer could have happened at any prison in New Zealand, adding that understaffing is rife among in the country and Mr Palmer should not have been dealing with such a dangerous prisoner after only 6 months on the job:

The fatal attack on a prison guard in Waikato at the weekend could have happened at any jail in New Zealand as the system battles with understaffing, a former Invercargill Prison officer said.
Brian Duncan, who worked at the city prison for 37 years before retiring in December 2008, said understaffing was rife across New Zealand jails, meaning inexperienced officers were being put at risk.
While assaults on corrections officers were “part and parcel” of the job, he questioned how Jason Palmer, 33, came to be handling such a dangerous prisoner six months into his job at Spring Hill Corrections in Waikato.
“He (the inmate) was in a segregation area – that is because he’d done something wrong and there were three officers there – that means he was a bad-arse.”
The jail was understaffed, Mr Duncan said.
“I know that up there (at Spring Hill) as staff leave they are not being replaced – exactly the same is happening here (in Invercargill).”

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American Jason Palmer Killed By Killer Beez Gang Member

Ex US Marine Corp member Jason Palmer has been named as the prison officer killed by an inmate at Spring Hill prison in the Waikato. Mr Palmer died from his injuries after an assault that took place on May 15 2010.

Members of the Trademe message boards have talked about under-staffing being  a problem at the prison

Sources have told reporters at the Dominion Post that the man responsible for the attack was a member of the Killer Beez, one of many gangs that terrorise the small islands of New Zealand (read Killer Beez a school for gangstas). Their activities and recruitment has spread out of South Auckland into areas like the North Shore, however their presence is often downplayed and kept out of news reports so as not to generate adverse publicity.

The press will often refer to gangs now as “rival groups” and muggers/armed robbers will be said to have been  “wearing bandannas” (code for gang members)

Even children aren’t safe from these gangs. A 4 year old boy was recently attacked in a park for wearing a red T shirt – the official colour of the Mongrel Mob and an innocent 15 year old kid was deliberately ran over in a gang initiation ritual.

Some towns in the country are very keen to play down their gang problem, one council even edited a Wikipedia page to remove references to gang crime.

Mr Palmer emigrated from America eight years ago, no doubt looking for a better and safer lifestyle in which to raise a family. He leaves behind a 13 year old son named Taylor Palmer who lives with his mother in Kingsville, Texas;  his present wife  Tracy and their two small children Riley, 5, and Abbey, 2. Our heartfelt condolences go out to them all for the sad loss  of their father and husband.

This from Katie Chapman and Tim Donoghue at The Dominion Post:

“An inmate accused of assaulting a guard who later died was a Killer Beez gang member under segregation, sources say.
Jason Palmer, 33, a former member of the United States Marine Corps who came to New Zealand eight years ago, died yesterday after an inmate at Spring Hill Corrections Facility, about 65km south of Auckland, punched him in the head about 1pm on Saturday.
Mr Palmer was one of three officers unlocking an inmate’s cell when the attack happened. The punch threw him to the floor, where he hit his head. He was taken to Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital suffering massive head injuries. Life support was turned off yesterday afternoon.
…The prisoner involved was under segregation at the time of the attack, and has since been shifted to the maximum security unit in Auckland Prison at Paremoremo. He will appear in Hamilton District Court this morning charged with assault. More charges are likely.
He has not been named, but sources told The Dominion Post that he was a member of the Killer Beez, a South Auckland gang.
Department of Corrections chief executive Barry Matthews said it appeared Mr Palmer was punched shortly after he and two other prison guards opened the segregated inmate’s cell.
He fell back and hit his head on the floor as the other two guards restrained the prisoner…more

According to the book Gangs by Ross Kemp (see video in the side bar to the right) New Zealand has more gangs per head then any other country in the world, with about seventy major gangs and over 4,000 patched members in a population of about 4,000,000 people.
According to the sociologist Jarrod Gilbert, New Zealand has had problems with youth and street gangs since the 1950s. However organised crime gangs such as those which currently dominate the New Zealand scene mostly date from the 1970s. ‘Gangsta’ style gangs have been a presence in New Zealand since the early 1990s but individual gangs of this type are typically short lived.
New Zealand gangs have generally been heavily influenced by their American counterparts. Although Black Power takes its name from the black liberation movement of the same name, in many ways it and similar gangs are much more akin to white American motorcycle gangs such as the Hell’s Angels. Since the early 1990s newer gangs have primarily been influenced by African American street gangs such as the Crips and Bloods.

Gangs of New Zealand (source Wikipedia)

Black Power was formed in the late 1960s in Whakatane, and its membership is primarily Māori and Pacific Islander. It has been involved with various kinds of crime, particularly drug dealing. Its symbol is the clenched fist of the American black power movement, and its colours are blue and black.

Hells Angels MC

The Hells Angels motorcycle club founded a chapter in Auckland in 1961 and has since taken over gangs in Wanganui. New Zealand had the first chapter of the Hells Angels outside the US.^[4]

Highway 61 MC

The Highway 61 motorcycle club is currently the largest outlaw motorcycle club in New Zealand. The motorcycle club currently has chapters in Auckland, Hastings, Rotorua, Wellington, Christchurch and also Sydney, Australia.^[8]. By 2008 it had expanded into Brisbane and the Gold Coast in eastern Australia.^[9]

Mongrel Mob

The Mongrel Mob was formed and organised in Hastings about 1968 and, like its Black Power rivals, is primarily Māori and Pacific Islander. The gang has been active in organised crime and has been involved in several murders. Its symbol is a bulldog wearing a German Stahlhelm helmet, and the gang makes use of other Nazi imagery. Their colours are red and black. The Mongrel Mob is currently the biggest gang in New Zealand.

Nomads

In 1977 the Nomads split from Black Power.

Road Knights MC

The Road Knights motorcycle club operates in the South Island. They are based in Invercargill, Timaru and Christchurch. The gang has ties with the Hells Angels, Red Devils and the Harris Gang and are rivals with the Mongrel Mob.

Tribesmen MC

The Tribesmen is a prominently Māori motorcycle club formed in the 1980s in Otara. It is connected to the Killerbeez youth street gang.
Motorcycle Gangs

• Devil’s Henchmen MC (Christchurch and Timaru) – the original South Island outlaw motorcycle club, formed in Christchurch in 1973
• Epitaph Riders MC (Christchurch and Greymouth)
• Filthy Few MC (Tauranga, Rotorua, Waihi and Matamata)
• Forty Five MC (Auckland)
• Greasy Dogs (Mount Maunganui)
• Headhunters MC (Auckland, Wellsford, Northland and Tauranga)^[17]
• Huhu MC (Tokoroa), started as a largely bush crew from the early 1950s, MC in the early 1970s.
• Lone Legion MC (Blenheim)
• Lost Breed MC (Nelson)
• Magogs MC (New Plymouth)
• Mothers MC (Palmerston North)
• Outcasts MC (Hamilton)
• Outlaws MC (Napier)
• Red Devils MC (Nelson)
• Satans Slaves MC (Wellington)
• Sinn Fein MC (Upper Hutt)
• Southern Vikings MC (Dunedin)
• Templars MC (Christchurch)
• Tyrants MC (Pahiatua)
• Ara Toa Whanau MC (Palmerston North, Horowhenua, Heretaunga)

Ethnic Gangs

• Hammerskins (Nationwide) – Nazi-skinhead gang.
• King Cobras (Auckland) – formed in central Auckland during the 1960s, K.C started as a largely Samoan gang but including some Pakeha and people from other Polynesian countries.
• StormTroopers (Dargaville)
• Tribal Huk (Ngaruawahia)
• FBI’s (Full Blooded Islanders)- Pacific Islanders^[21] – Wellington/Nationwide^[

Street/Youth Gangs

• Bloods (Youth Gang,Nationwide)
• Crips (Youth Gang,Nationwide)
• Darksiders (Youth Gang – Connected to Black Power, Wellington)
• Dope Money Sex (Youth Gang) – Central Auckland
• Killerbeez (Youth Gang – Connected to the Tribesman)

A snapshot of gang activity in NZ 2009

Aug – The police association renewed calls for police to be armed following the second gang related shooting in seven years in the Palmerston North suburb of Highbury
July -‘Horror as gang man attacked’ -Diners looked on in horror as chairs were smashed on a man’s head at a cafe outside Dannevirke.
July – ‘Two men found guilty of gang pad attack ‘ A High Court jury found two men guilty of bashing a man at a Hastings gang pad.
June – A man is seriously injured in what appeared to be a gang related shooting in Foxton, Manawatu. Gang involved was ‘The Nomads’
June – Tuari Damyn Karipa-Rangi pleads guilty in the robbery and assault of two men in Christchurch. The gang associated with the violent mugging is named as the YSK – Young Skuxx Klicxx at youth street gang with 10-20 members
June – ‘Two bashed in gang turf clash’ -Two patched Mongrel Mob members were set upon and beaten up by at least four rival gang members in the car park of the Tamatea Pak’nSave supermarket at 3.45 in the afternoon.
June – ‘Prison brawl adds to gang tensions’
June – Gang violence out of control in New Zealand – In the Hawkes Bay region of the North Island, police say it is a matter of pure luck that they are not dealing with multiple murders after members of a local gang chapter tore apart a 21st birthday party, using knives, baseball bats and a machete.
June – Shots fired at house in James Streeet, Dannevirke as gang tensions rose
June – “When gang strife became warfare in the street” Sentencing was carried out for the day that open gang warfare and gunfire erupted on the street of Aranui
Feb – “Gang life is one of petty terrorism, violence and hatred” Said Wellington’s mayor after the gang related drive-by shooting in which three year old Jhia Te Tua died in her parents’ home. Gangs involved were Black Power and Mongrel Mob.
Feb – “The danger of serious youth violence is increasing as juvenile gangs take up weapons, Hastings’ top police officer has warned. In a police crime report to be discussed by city leaders, Inspector Dean Clifford says the suburb of Flaxmere has between 13 and 15 gangs for just 10,300 residents.”
Feb – Gang tension comes to Dunedin: a gang related drive-by shooting, Molotov cocktails thrown into houses, and last night there was a street brawl following a car accident on Andersons Bay Road.
Feb – “Mayors play down gang problem after brawls – Brawls in Wairoa and Gisborne including one between Black Power and Mongrel Mob members, resulted in arrests at the weekend but local mayors are defending their area, saying it does not have a gang problem”
Other gang related blog posts:
4 year old attacked for wearing red shirt (Mongrel Mob colours)
Tokoroa 15 year old Seth Tera deliberately ran over in gang initiation
North Shore Attacks, Trial Starts (updated) – Guilty Pleas Entered
Also see posts tagged GANGS on blogspot
From a thread on Trademe.co.nz discussing Mr Palmer’s Death:

Spring Hill Prison
We have a friend who was an officer at Springhill and he left about 6 months ago as he said that the place was way understaffed and that something like this was going to happen and sadly it has.

Milton Prison
“Each prison is issued with a LIMITED amount of stab proof vests & batons but staff are not allowed to wear them on duty – only for certain incidents or tasks…The Dept. of Corrections mislead the public with how they do their press releases.
Last week, in Milton Prison alone, 4 staff were assaulted, one hit from behind be a meal tray & then kicked in the head whilst down. It’s insane, prison staff are unsafe and need better resources to deal with the violent prison population. The Dept. and Government don’t want to listen to the prison guards union because what is needed costs money & they’re too busy being cheap ar*es…”

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