Corrections staff in French Polynesia have staged a demonstration outside the Nuutania prison in Tahiti against the planned employment of a French technician.
The individual was to be employed at the new prison being built in Papeari.
The local union said this goes against a convention which gives preference to hiring corrections personnel from French Polynesia.
It said the French individual concerned had no links to the territory.
The new prison is to replace the Nuutania jail which is one of the most overcrowded prisons run by France.
The Papeari prison will cost almost $US100 million and is to open next year.
More than 4,500 people applied for the new corrections positions.
Of those 204 were chosen and sent to France for eight months of training.