The government's commitment to safer prisons is being questioned as investigations continue into how convicted double murderer Graeme Burton came to have a knife in his Auckland Prison cell.
The knife was found hidden in a fan during a search of Burton's cell at Auckland Prison at Paremoremo about a month ago.
"Staff immediately examined the fan and discovered a pocketknife inside," Auckland Prison manager Neil Beales said.
"We are working to establish what led to the prisoner having access to the pocketknife and will implement any necessary changes that could prevent this from occurring again."
Labour's Law and Order spokesman Clayton Cosgrove told Radio New Zealand the incident was troubling given the government's assurances that prison safety was being addressed.
"The Minister of Corrections, Judith Collins, some months ago made great play of the fact that she was cleaning the show up -- that razor blades were being withdrawn from cells across our prisons, that prison officers would be a lot safer, that the whole prison would be far more secure. This proves that that's been a failure," Mr Cosgrove said.
"This person has been able to gain a weapon and potentially put prison officers at risk and fellow prisoners at risk.
"The question is how did this happen in a maximum security facility?"
Burton was returned to prison after being sentenced to preventive detention with a minimum non-parole period of 26 years for the murder of Lower Hutt man Karl Kuchenbecker in January 2007 while on parole.
He was subsequently sentenced to preventive detention with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years, to be served concurrently to the murder sentence, following a guilty verdict on a charge of attempting to murder fellow inmate Dwayne Marsh after he stabbed him with a sharpened steel rod.
NZPA