A prison guard accused of accepting a bribe of sex with a member of the public, allegedly arranged by a prisoner in exchange for bringing contraband into Rimutaka Prison, is one of five charged with corruption today. 

Two former Corrections officers, one prisoner, a woman and a current Corrections officer were all set to appear in the Hutt Valley District Court today. 

All are charged with corruptly giving a bribe, accepting a bribe, or being party to a bribe of an official. 

It is not clear which of the defendants are former Corrections officers and which is the current officer. 

The charges come after a three-year police investigation into corruption at Rimutaka Prison, dubbed Operation Portia. Police spoke to more than 200 people as part of the investigation. 

According to charging documents, one of the prison guards is accused of accepting a bribe of sex with the woman outside the wire, arranged by a prisoner. In exchange, he allegedly brought contraband on to the prison grounds. 

He was remanded on bail and ordered to surrender his passport. He was granted interim name suppression. 

The woman accused of having sex with the man twice is also facing two charges of being party to the bribe. She is Jacinta Cherry, 37, a hospitality worker from Wainuiomata. 

She failed to appear in court today and a warrant was issued for her arrest. An application for name suppression put forward by her lawyer was declined, because she didn’t show up. 

The prisoner accused of arranging the encounter is also charged with being party to the bribe. Court documents record his address as Paremoremo Prison in Auckland. 

One officer is accused of taking bribes as small as $150. Photo / NZME 

Another Corrections officer is accused of accepting five bribes, one as little as $150, to bring contraband on prison grounds, while another is accused of accepting three bribes over $1000 to bring contraband onto prison grounds. 

Both were bailed to Wellington addresses and granted interim name suppression. 

A number of the alleged offences are supposed to have occurred during the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. 

The charges are rare and required approval from the Attorney-General before they could be laid. 

As part of Operation Portia police spoke to witnesses, employees of the Department of Corrections and prisoners. 

Techniques used in the inquiry included combing through hours of CCTV footage, bank records and phone interrogations, according to a police spokesperson. 

“Police have worked closely and collaboratively with Corrections management and both organisations are committed to working towards preventing corruption and other criminal offending,” the spokesperson said. 

“Police have also been able to provide information to Corrections that has supported the prison to strengthen its management of some systems and processes. 

“This has been an incredibly complex and dynamic investigation with a lot of moving parts.” 

Ethan Griffiths covers crime and justice stories nationwide for Open Justice. He joined NZME in 2020, previously working as a regional reporter in Whanganui and South Taranaki.