Corrections officers barricaded themselves and a prisoner inside a van after its tyres were slashed and shots fired at a tangi in Waikato.
A minimum-security prisoner had been permitted to attend a family member's funeral at a marae on Thursday afternoon and was escorted there by Corrections officers from Waikeria Prison.
Police said most of those attending the tangi were gang members.
At about 12:45pm, a shotgun was fired into the air several times.
Waikeria Prison general manager Rosemary Firth said the guards immediately returned to the escort vehicle, only to find its tyres had been slashed. They locked themselves inside and called for help.
"The tyres of the prisoner escort vehicle had been damaged, so they secured themselves and the prisoner inside the vehicle while additional staff and vehicles from the prison were immediately dispatched to the area. All staff and the prisoner safely returned to the site without further incident."
Firth said the Corrections officers involved had shown "exceptional courage".
"Our staff did an excellent job responding to an incredibly challenging situation and I would like to acknowledge them for their professionalism and bravery. They moved swiftly to secure the prisoner to ensure no risk to public safety and their actions ensured the safety of the prisoner and their colleagues.
"Threats and intimidation towards our staff are unacceptable, especially when they're trying to do the right thing by allowing a prisoner to mourn the loss of a loved one."
Police said a shotgun shell was found near the Department of Corrections' van and investigations were being made to identify and find the person who pulled the trigger.
Waikeria Prison was currently undergoing a large redevelopment project, which has been pushed back several times. It was where New Zealand's biggest prison riot happened over the 2020/2021 New Year period, when 17 inmates burned a high-security unit to the ground, in protest over "inhumane" conditions.
Call for 'rethink' on gang tangi visits
Corrections Association national president Floyd du Plessis said everything seemed "clear at first" when officers arrived, "but what did become evident is there was a large gang presence".
He called it an "extremely traumatic situation for staff" but not unique.
"It is something that does happen, sadly. We deal with some pretty dangerous individuals out there in the community and so there have been other examples of exactly this situation happening where staff have gone to external escorts and [found] large numbers of gang members and them having a negative reaction.
"Unfortunately, it's one of the problems that we face because there tends to be a lot of criticism of us when we don't facilitate visits for things like tangi. But people need to understand these things are dangerous and when you're going to a tangi where there's a large gang presence, things can go wrong. And that is exactly what happened in this instance."
Du Plessis said protocol around letting prisoners attend tangi needed a "rethink".
"The reality is that it used to be a lot stricter and there used to be a lot more rules around gang presence. Unfortunately, that has softened over a number of years and so that is something that does need to be re-evaluated and reconsidered for the safety of everyone - both staff, prisoners and the public that are there."
He was not aware if there were any plans to tighten the rules for tangi where gangs might be involved.
"It is definitely something we'll be raising with the national commissioner and having a discussion with him around what unfolded and what safety procedures need to be put in place to prevent this happening again."
RNZ
