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Inside the Wire: True Stories from a New Zealand prison officer
Gripping true-life stories from a career spent inside New Zealand prisons.
Rhonda Hāpi-Smith has walked among some of New Zealand's most dangerous criminals. As a female prison officer and member of the Riot Squad, she met and worked with thieves, addicts, gangsters, murderers and sex offenders for nearly twenty years in men's prisons around the country.
Operating within an unspoken set of codes, Rhonda built a reputation for herself as fair but firm. She dealt with everything from mass riots and inter-gang hits to attempted escapes, suicides and segregated 'maxi' detainees.
But alongside the twisted and the downright terrifying, Rhonda shares stories of unlikely friendships, ingenious prison innovations, and moments of hilarity with some of the best people she's ever known. When you walk inside the wire, you leave the ordinary world behind. Put your game face on and here we go!
Rhonda Hāpi-Smith has walked among some of New Zealand's most dangerous criminals. As a female prison officer and member of the Riot Squad, she met and worked with thieves, addicts, gangsters, murderers and sex offenders for nearly twenty years in men's prisons around the country.
Operating within an unspoken set of codes, Rhonda built a reputation for herself as fair but firm. She dealt with everything from mass riots and inter-gang hits to attempted escapes, suicides and segregated 'maxi' detainees.
But alongside the twisted and the downright terrifying, Rhonda shares stories of unlikely friendships, ingenious prison innovations, and moments of hilarity with some of the best people she's ever known. When you walk inside the wire, you leave the ordinary world behind. Put your game face on and here we go!
- GenresNonfiction
229 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 4, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 25, 2025
Mildly interesting but could have been way better. One of those memoirs that’s basically just an ego trip. Overall, it felt pretty hollow which is surprising considering the heavy subjects.
September 28, 2025
The whole thing felt like the writer was on an ego trip and lacked intellect and self awareness.
April 22, 2026
I kept waiting for the real story to start. Instead the whole thing was about Rhonda and her job. I wanted more stories about the individuals, both prisoners and staff and their experiences in prison.
April 24, 2026
As a Female Corrections Officer in a Male prison myself, I was so let down by this book. I have read so many books written by ex-prisoners where officers are just made to look like a-holes and i was stoked to FINALLY be reading a book from an officers perspective, to put the story straight. Because Corrections has a very stringent confidentiality agreement that we will NEVER talk about what we do. For that reason so many officers struggle to relate to people who are not officers, but also to let go of the stress they encounter every day.
But this book WAS and ego trip. A story of one officer who, like many officers, believe that they are the ONLY thing holding a prison together.
I was especially miffed by the story of the Arohata prisoner who during a C and R situation turned to Rhonda and said "this is a great C and R, I have never felt so safe". I call bull on that.
Maybe AFTER the fact they might say "whoa miss, you're really strong. You did better than that other officer." But NEVER DURING the struggle. There's too much adrenaline and 'fuck you' attitude for that to happen.
EVERY encounter she had was made to be that SHE was the hero. That she was the one who got the situation resolved. But I can assure you, it is NEVER one officer. It is ALWAYS the team who did it. Maybe one officer took the lead, or took charge, but it was ALWAYS a team effort.
I was particularly awed when she talked about her instructions to no longer give cigarettes to prisoners, and she immediately used cigarettes to control a prisoner. She said was it wrong, yes? Was I in the wrong.....? I'll let you decide. Well, I get this sentiment. Sometimes you DO bend the rules to ensure a successful outcome. But this was clear cut for me. There was new, clear rule that we dont do that, and she broke it. She was in the wrong. We have other tools we can use to manage difficult situations. That being said, I dont look at that situation and think she's a shit officer, she ws got, or anything like that. Every officer has a story where they fucked up, or broke a rule. And we always pay the piper for those errors. But to say she wasn't wrong, well.... she was wrong.
I would love to write a response to this book. Talk about some of the things that she touches on in here, but expand on them with my background in psychology, and my experience of the prison system.
I DO know that where she starts talking about how new officers came through ND she disagreed with them, that they had nothing to offer, that they were trained to come in and follow rules, rather than taking matters into their own hands, this hit home. When I started, at the time she is talking about few officers being useful or good, I know at my prison there was definitely a sense of old skool, new skool, and the old skool looked at us exactly as she describes. Yes there were new officers who come in all gung-ho without taking time to learn the intricacies of a prison setting, and there ARE things you only get with experience, such as being able to "feel" a unit or a prisoner. Such as, being able to bend rules to ensure good outcomes, but not by introducing contraband. Bending rules such as "ok i know we dont shower at this time of day, but I'll let you". But those new staff get there in the end. They just need older staff to guide them.
I know that now there is a lot more staff coming through who ARE like what Rhonda describes. That will throw staff under the bus to get further in their careers, that will absolutely dismiss older staff, that will make situations unsafe. That literally do not care because they are there ONLY for a short time, for money or for a specific purpose to do with residency in NZ. Those ones ARE unsafe. But the majority of officers do their best. They DO come in thinking the uniform makes them untouchable, but those ones VERY quickly learn that the uniform makes you MORE vulnerable, make you more likely to be in danger.
It IS true that prisons are unlike ANY other job. You could never explain to other people what it is like. But this book doesn't help. Writing in such an egotistical way doesn't help officers to be understood, or supported. It just presents us in a way that makes us look self righteous. There were SO many things in here that if she'd put her own pride aside she could have actually DONE something to support staff, to have taught officers and to have made her book useful. But she didn't do that. She just used this book to bolster her own sense of self-worth. Which is ok, but not useful or interesting.
But this book WAS and ego trip. A story of one officer who, like many officers, believe that they are the ONLY thing holding a prison together.
I was especially miffed by the story of the Arohata prisoner who during a C and R situation turned to Rhonda and said "this is a great C and R, I have never felt so safe". I call bull on that.
Maybe AFTER the fact they might say "whoa miss, you're really strong. You did better than that other officer." But NEVER DURING the struggle. There's too much adrenaline and 'fuck you' attitude for that to happen.
EVERY encounter she had was made to be that SHE was the hero. That she was the one who got the situation resolved. But I can assure you, it is NEVER one officer. It is ALWAYS the team who did it. Maybe one officer took the lead, or took charge, but it was ALWAYS a team effort.
I was particularly awed when she talked about her instructions to no longer give cigarettes to prisoners, and she immediately used cigarettes to control a prisoner. She said was it wrong, yes? Was I in the wrong.....? I'll let you decide. Well, I get this sentiment. Sometimes you DO bend the rules to ensure a successful outcome. But this was clear cut for me. There was new, clear rule that we dont do that, and she broke it. She was in the wrong. We have other tools we can use to manage difficult situations. That being said, I dont look at that situation and think she's a shit officer, she ws got, or anything like that. Every officer has a story where they fucked up, or broke a rule. And we always pay the piper for those errors. But to say she wasn't wrong, well.... she was wrong.
I would love to write a response to this book. Talk about some of the things that she touches on in here, but expand on them with my background in psychology, and my experience of the prison system.
I DO know that where she starts talking about how new officers came through ND she disagreed with them, that they had nothing to offer, that they were trained to come in and follow rules, rather than taking matters into their own hands, this hit home. When I started, at the time she is talking about few officers being useful or good, I know at my prison there was definitely a sense of old skool, new skool, and the old skool looked at us exactly as she describes. Yes there were new officers who come in all gung-ho without taking time to learn the intricacies of a prison setting, and there ARE things you only get with experience, such as being able to "feel" a unit or a prisoner. Such as, being able to bend rules to ensure good outcomes, but not by introducing contraband. Bending rules such as "ok i know we dont shower at this time of day, but I'll let you". But those new staff get there in the end. They just need older staff to guide them.
I know that now there is a lot more staff coming through who ARE like what Rhonda describes. That will throw staff under the bus to get further in their careers, that will absolutely dismiss older staff, that will make situations unsafe. That literally do not care because they are there ONLY for a short time, for money or for a specific purpose to do with residency in NZ. Those ones ARE unsafe. But the majority of officers do their best. They DO come in thinking the uniform makes them untouchable, but those ones VERY quickly learn that the uniform makes you MORE vulnerable, make you more likely to be in danger.
It IS true that prisons are unlike ANY other job. You could never explain to other people what it is like. But this book doesn't help. Writing in such an egotistical way doesn't help officers to be understood, or supported. It just presents us in a way that makes us look self righteous. There were SO many things in here that if she'd put her own pride aside she could have actually DONE something to support staff, to have taught officers and to have made her book useful. But she didn't do that. She just used this book to bolster her own sense of self-worth. Which is ok, but not useful or interesting.
August 21, 2025
I wanted more. I thought this was written like someone talking. Clear and easy to follow, it wasn't written for us but for Rhonda. I think to be a prison office, you do have to be confident and proud of yourself. Otherwise, you just can't do it as you can't trust yourself.
November 17, 2025
Very intresting read, and opened my eyes up to how the prison system works in NZ.
February 2, 2026
Was waiting for it to get better the whole book and it just didn't. The stories lacked depth and it read like an ego trip in a poorly written diary.
March 1, 2026
This was a book club read. It could have been so much more....had the author and editor been pushed to go beyond superficial story telling. A missed story.
March 29, 2026
a very good read from a prison officers story. Her language is very relatable if your a kiwi
April 3, 2026
Interesting auto biography about her tough job working in Prisons. Definetly not your 8-5pm typical working life.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews