Police cars near the Spring Hill prison in the Waikato, where a riot has broken out.

Smoke pours from the Spring Hill prison after prisoners lit fires and caused extensive damage to their cell blocks during a riot.

A "gang related" riot that left three Corrections staff and two prisoners injured and caused significant damage to Spring Hill prison in Waikato has now been suppressed.



Twenty seven inmates ran free in the courtyards of two cellblocks, lighting fires and smashing the facilities for more than eight hours.



The riot started around 11am and was suppressed by Corrections staff and police around 8pm.



Three Corrections staff were left with broken bones and two prisoners with undisclosed injuries.



Prison staff and emergency services should be commended for their resolution of the riot, said Corrections Minister Anne Tolley.



"Our staff have done a tremendous job, and they have been helped out by both police and fire," she said



The fires threatened to endanger inmates who were not part of the rioting and 16 fire engines attended the scene.



Negotiators were called in to help resolve the situation.



Footage shot by 3News shows fires burning in the prison courtyards, with prisoners - some shirtless - seemingly celebrating the destruction caused.



The pictures show fires in two of the prison blocks, with another being lit as 3News were filming.



The Westpac rescue chopper was seen landing inside the prison.



Emergency services were called to the prison just before 1pm today, after reports of a stabbing and several other injuries.



Paramedics and police were initially unable to get into the prison due to the "chaotic" situation.



Corrections Northern Region Commission Jeanette Burns said there was never any danger to the public from the prisoners as the incident was brought under control by the response teams.



A heavy police presence along with fire and ambulance services will remain on the prison grounds overnight.



An investigation into how the event occurred is underway and a number of the inmates will likely face further charges.

Spring Hill is one of New Zealand's biggest prisons, with a muster of about 1000 medium and high security male prisoners.

It is on a 215 hectare site near Meremere in the Waikato.

BEN CURRAN/Fairfax NZ PRISON: A riot has broken out at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility in Waikato.

Meanwhile, as the riots went on at Spring Hill, there was another fire set inside Auckland Prison.

It is understood guards were sent to the Waikato prison while prisoners were placed on lockdown at the site formerly known as Paremoremo.

Fairfax Media were told restless prisoners locked the landing gate and set a fire, which prison officers struggled to get to.

Eventually a fire hose was poked through a grill and extinguished the small blaze.

The Corrections Department acknowledged there had been “an incident” but would not discuss it further because it was thought to involve a single prisoner.



