Bulging prisoner numbers at the Otago Corrections Facility (OCF) have prompted Dunedin police to hire and train security staff to work as jailers for a predicted influx of remand prisoners who may not be able to be housed at Milburn.
But the Department of Corrections is also negotiating with union officials over moves it hopes will eliminate the overcrowding problem by introducing the practice of "double-bunking", where two prisoners could share a cell usually reserved for one.
The department has no plans to expand prisoner capacity - something it is allowed to explore from July.
OCF, for the first time since its opening in May 2007, reached its official full capacity on Monday when 335 prisoners were recorded.
Of that number, 70 are on remand awaiting court appearances.
Although it can hold an extra 67 prisoners as part of its 20% contingency, used in special circumstances, the department said it had no plans to exercise that right.
This situation prompted Dunedin-Clutha police area commander Inspector Dave Campbell to hire six staff from an unnamed city security company. They have been trained to look after any remand prisoners forced to be housed in Dunedin Central Police Station cells, because of the overcrowding at Milburn.
The station has room for up to 20 prisoners. Christchurch or Invercargill prisons would likely take further prisoner overflows.
In an interview yesterday, Insp Campbell said the security staff were ready to act as jailers if and when needed.
He expected the first of them would not be needed unless the number of remand prisoners started to increase quickly.
He was reluctant to "go political" and comment on the issue of police handling remand prisoners but "indications are that remand [prisoner] numbers are rising . . . It is a very fluid situation which changes daily and we would expect to employ those jailers in the coming weeks".
There are no plans reopen the former Dunedin prison and use it as a temporary or permanent remand centre to deal with the prisoner overflow.
Milburn prison manager Jack Harrison yesterday told the Otago Daily Times the facility was experiencing a "very high prisoner population" but it was equipped to take this level of prisoners and they were being managed accordingly.
Some of the inmates were from Hawkes Bay, and had been transferred south due to similar overcrowding issues there.
The issue of double-bunking is the main item being discussed between the department and its talks with the Corrections Association of New Zealand and the Public Services Association.
All the department would say on the matter yesterday was that it was negotiating with both groups to "amend the maximum operating capacity" provided under the collective employment agreements of corrections officers.
"We are working with our unions in good faith and neither party wishes to negotiate through the media."
Corrections Association president Bevan Hanlon said the move would add an extra 950 beds to the jail system which would cover the expected prisoner number growth in the next 18 months.
He has been visiting prisons around the country to gauge staff reaction to the idea.
