{"id":508749,"date":"2026-07-04T00:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T00:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/508749\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T00:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T00:54:09","slug":"prison-guard-accused-of-looking-into-room-of-breastfeeding-mother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/508749\/","title":{"rendered":"Prison guard accused of looking into room of breastfeeding mother"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the afternoon, a prisoner from Northland Region Corrections Facility, also known as Ng\u0101wh\u0101 prison<\/a>, was put in the neighbouring room, escorted by two Corrections staff.<\/p>\n

Tatu said the hospital nurses told the officers that a new mother was recovering from surgery next door, and they were not to use the adjoining bathroom, instead instructing them to use a separate toilet to ensure her privacy.<\/p>\n

That night Tatu was sleeping, but as he was later told, Jessica was breastfeeding their baby when she turned and saw a Corrections officer<\/a> standing in the room, \u201cpeeking\u201d through the toilet door.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said, \u2018Who are you?\u2019 and he said, \u2018I\u2019m just using the toilet.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Jessica was so shaken that she barricaded the toilet door<\/a> so no one else could come in.<\/p>\n

Tatu said he \u201csaw red\u201d when he was told about the incident the next day.<\/p>\n

He went into the prisoner\u2019s room and asked the Corrections staff for the name of the officer working overnight, so he could make a formal complaint.<\/p>\n

He claimed the officers started screaming at him, trying to push him out of the room and calling for hospital security<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Hospital security helped to calm the situation, escorting the guards<\/a> to a different area, he said.<\/p>\n

He complained on Corrections\u2019 website, through the hospital\u2019s complaint process, and contacted the Ombudsman but has yet to hear back from Corrections.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe incident happened at Whang\u0101rei Hospital, as the mother recovering from surgery was placed in a room next to an escorted prisoner. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

He was full of praise for hospital staff, saying nurses and security were empathetic and supportive.<\/p>\n

Jessica was recovering well, but he remained angry that someone came into her room during the night and while she was vulnerable.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy partner is putting on a brave face, but it gives me predator vibes. I worry for other mothers.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the other concerning thing was that Corrections staff appeared to be protecting each other, rather than hearing his complaint.<\/p>\n

Staff did the right thing, Corrections says<\/p>\n

David Bullians, Northland Region Corrections Facility<\/a> acting general manager, said the incident was a misunderstanding stemming from staff not knowing that the prisoner\u2019s bathroom was shared with another patient.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged the distress caused by the incident and said staff conduct was taken very seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic safety is our top priority and, as is standard procedure during a hospital escort<\/a>, staff check all possible entry and exit points to a prisoner\u2019s room, including any attached bathrooms.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe officer from Northland Region Corrections Facility acted on a misunderstanding, but staff later acted professionally, Corrections says. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

\u201cPrior to undertaking their checks in this instance, staff were unaware the bathroom was shared with another patient\u2019s room. Corrections will be working with the hospital to ensure a misunderstanding like this does not happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said of the incident with Tatu the next day that members of the public were not allowed to enter a prisoner\u2019s hospital room without permission \u201cfor the safety and security of everyone<\/a>\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a member of the public tried to enter this prisoner\u2019s room, our staff did the right thing by attempting to de-escalate the situation and calling for assistance from hospital security. <\/p>\n

\u201cPrison leadership have spoken to a number of witnesses, including hospital staff, who all reported that staff acted with professionalism. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no information to suggest they were aggressive<\/a> or unprofessional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bullians said an online complaint was recieved on July 1 and the incident will be reviewed again, in light of the complaint.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf any new information comes to light through this process, we will take appropriate action,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe again acknowledge the distress this has caused, and will be reaching out to the complainant once we have further information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Health NZ reviewing the incident<\/p>\n

Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora was also reviewing the matter, Northern region group director of operations Alex Pimm said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHealth NZ is aware of concerns raised regarding an incident involving a prisoner escort at Whang\u0101rei Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are currently reviewing the matter and are in contact with the Department of Corrections to better understand the circumstances surrounding the incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the matter was under review, it was not appropriate to comment further, he said.<\/p>\n

Denise Piper is a news reporter<\/a> for the Northern Advocate, focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the afternoon, a prisoner from Northland Region Corrections Facility, also known as Ng\u0101wh\u0101 prison, was put in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[68501,1117,74,48378,13161,25207,8414,71,33738,2241,296,19133,6178,111,43,139,1067,69,1118,8442,16784,7812,4892,4524],"class_list":["post-508749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-accountability","tag-accused","tag-after","tag-bed","tag-breastfeeding","tag-corrections","tag-couple","tag-from","tag-guard","tag-hospital","tag-into","tag-looking","tag-mother","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-prison","tag-room","tag-seen","tag-staring","tag-want"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}