A group of boys had to be talked off the roof of a south Auckland youth justice facility after overpowering staff and stealing their keys.
An opposition MP says it highlights an ongoing problem at the site and has called for the government to step in.
Six police units and the fire service were called to the Korowai Manaaki Youth Justice Residence in Manurewa just before midnight on Friday.
Seven boys had overpowered three night staff in a unit at the centre and taken their keys before escaping on to the roof, according to Child, Youth and Family youth justice support general manager Chris Polaschek.
He said although no one was hurt and there was minimal damage done to the facility, the staff involved had been left "shaken".
"At no stage was there any risk to the public," he said.
The boys were eventually talked down and brought off the roof using a fire ladder at 1:30am on Saturday.
New Zealand First claims the facility was understaffed when the group scaled the roof.
"They only had 10 staff on the floor at that stage, and they needed a minimum of 15 for security reasons," spokesperson for youth affairs Darroch Ball MP says.
"[The facilities] are breeding grounds for future criminals. We've had concerns about the way they are run, the way that the youth are being handled and quite clearly it's not being done right."
He also says this is not the first incident to take place at the facility.
"Assaults on staff, escape attempts and mini riots have gone on here for the past few years - hundreds of incidents have rocked the facility and put both staff and youth at risk."
An Official Information Act request by NZ First found more than 680 incidents over a year at the facility.
The party is calling for immediate intervention by the Ministry of Social Development at the Korowai Manaak centre.
The ministry of social development said it would be investigating the incident.
Considerations about the number and ratios of night staff on site will form part of our investigation," Chris Polschenk says.
"It should be remembered that our staff deal with very challenging young people. Staff are not expected to put themselves at risk and in this case they followed procedure and called the police, who responded quickly."
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