Welcome to your double bunked over crowded and violent prison nation NZ! Where people leave prison more damaged than they went in. The gloriously counter-productive fruit from allowing spite & anger to infect social policy is a wondrous thing but the true horror of our State sanctioned double bunked rape pens has never been laid so bone bare than this piercing exclusive by the brilliant David Fisher…
A serial sex offender was given the opportunity to commit violent rapes on fellow inmates after the Corrections Department deleted a warning saying he was not to be double-bunked.
Two of the three men who told police they were raped by William Katipa, 52, have been paid compensation by Corrections.
There is yet to be a settlement with the third person.
…when you allow Sensible Sentencing Trust hate or punitive #MeToo lynch mobs to decide punishment minus mercy, you get a justice system that is no longer social policy, it’s weaponised incarceration where the welfare of prisoners is the lowest of concerns…
The actual number of victims may be much higher, with documents showing Katipa shared a cell with as many as 50 other people before the rapes emerged.
For the prison rapes, Katipa was sentenced this year on five counts of sexual violation, four of indecent assault, three of threatening to kill, a charge of attempted sexual violation and a charge of assault with intent to injure.
…we have no idea of the true enormity of how many men were raped by these damaged individuals and we have no idea how rampant it has become inside our violent double bunked and crowded prison system because we don’t care…
Katipa was already serving a sentence of preventive detention after being found guilty of raping two other people.
He had been sent to prison 2002 for twice raping a 13-year-old girl. While behind bars, DNA testing revealed he was the man who raped a 19-year-old woman in 1994 while her daughter, 2, was present.
Justice Matthew Downs told Katipa he was “unremorseful” and “dangerous”, delivering a second sentence of preventive detention of which he must serve a minimum of 15 years in prison before being able to ask for parole. Katipa has since appealed.
Corrections told the Herald it made mistakes which allowed Katipa access to the two men he raped in 2015.
At that stage, it already had a record of a complaint made by a cellmate of Katipa’s in 2006 and in 2009 placed an alert on his file saying “NTDB” – Not To Double Bunk.
Chief Custodial Officer Neil Beales said: “This alert was deactivated by a Corrections officer in August 2014.
“Despite extensive investigation, prison management have not been able to determine the reason for the alert being deactivated. We acknowledge the alert should not have been deactivated.”
…so the violent rapist who was clearly marked not to be double bunked had his warning removed and surprise, surprise no one at Corrections can figure out why.
We know that conclusion is garbage right? Come on, you know why that warning was deactivated. Some pencil pushing bureaucrat in Wellington was trying to force as many people into the overcrowded and underfunded nightmare of our prison system and simply dropped the classification to make numbers work…
Beales said Katipa was not currently double-bunked and there was an “active alert” on the Corrections’ computer system warning staff against placing him with other inmates.
“We have formally apologised to two of Mr Katipa’s victims. We accept that Mr Katipa should not have been placed in a cell with them and a compensation settlement has been agreed with both of them. We are currently in consultation with the third victim’s lawyer.”
… oh they apologised for locking these guys in with a rapist who raped them, all good then eh muddle Nu Zilind?
Beales said inmates who believed they had been assaulted by Katipa – or any other inmate – should feel encouraged to speak with police.
“We are not aware of any further complaints made against Mr Katipa to date.”
There was a police inquiry into the 2006 allegation that Katipa had raped his cellmate.
Prison guards had noted the blocked peephole allowing access to the cell but missed the note his victim had slid under the cell door asking for help.
Police also recovered Katipa’s semen from the man’s boxer shorts and his DNA from his victim’s neck and face.
No charges were laid and detective senior sergeant Daryl Smith would not comment ahead of Katipa’s appeal, although said police worked hard to do best for victims of crime.
…he slipped a note under the door begging for help to stop the rapist. Corrections did nothing, but they did apologise so yeah nah eh?
Read the following in horror…
The charges were laid when the 2015 complaints came to light with the earlier complainant telling the court he was “angry the authorities were slow to respond to his complaints” and that he had not been believed.
Despite the complaint, Katipa remained in the pool of double-bunked prisoners through to 2009, when Corrections brought in a system which evaluated whether inmates should be sharing cells with others.
The Shared Accommodation Cell Risk Assessment (Sacra) tool made recommendations by drawing on a prisoner’s age, security classification, offending history, history of imprisonment, gang affiliation, “physical characteristics”, mental health and other special needs.
As a result, a note was made on Katipa’s file expressly banning him from being housed with other inmates.
The warning was inexplicably removed in 2014 and Katipa was again housed with other inmates.
The other two complainants in the case were bunked with Katipa the following year – both trapped with him overnight to face prolonged assaults from which there was no escape.
Documents sourced by the Herald have revealed the chilling story of Katipa’s reign of terror against fellow inmates.
The first attack for which Katipa, then 40, was convicted is said to have taken place in Waikeria Prison in 2006.
Katipa, then 40, was locked in a cell with a fellow inmate, 27, who was serving time after convictions for a range of property offences.
The pair exchanged stories of sexual abuse each had suffered as children before, according to documents, Katipa told his cellmate to join him on the bottom bunk.
The cellmate was told that if he did not then Katipa would kill him, documents show.
He also blocked the cell peephole used by guards and turned the radio up to block the sound of what came next.
Sentencing notes showed Katipa forced his cellmate to carry out sex acts on him.
“He was terrified,” said Justice Downs.
Later that night, Katipa ordered the cellmate back to the bottom bunk. On this occasion, Katipa raped the cellmate.
During the course of the rape, a prison guard asked through the door why the peephole was blocked and told the men inside to clear the view.
Katipa did so, and it was during this time the cellmate slipped a note under the door asking for help.
No help came, and later that night – according to the police case – the sexual assault resumed.
Again a prison guard asked why the peephole was blocked – and documents show Katipa continued the rape while telling the guard he was on the toilet.
The cellmate was warned the next morning he would be killed if he told anyone what had happened.
Even so, the sentencing notes stated: “(The cellmate) made a prompt complaint after sobbing uncontrollably to a prison officer.”
It was then police recovered semen from the victims boxer shorts and DNA from there, and the victim’s face and neck.
No charges were laid. A year after release, the victim – with no prior sexual violence convictions – raped a woman, was convicted for the attack and returned to prison.
Corrections’ understanding of the risk Katipa posed emerged in 2009 when it introduced the Sacra tool.
It came as the new National government revealed plans to extend double-bunking throughout the prison system.
Then-Corrections minister Judith Collins cited a “prison crisis” as inmate numbers reached 6500, blamed the former Labour government for not accounting for the growth in inmates numbers and used it to justify double-bunking.
Nine years later the prison population sits above 10,000 with many prisons close to 100 per cent occupancy. About a third of New Zealand cells are now double-bunked.
The new Sacra tool red-flagged Katipa as too risky to be placed with others – until the alert was removed in 2014.
In September 2015, Katipa was bunked with an inmate at the Auckland South Correctional Facility who would later tell police of being raped through the night.
By now, Katipa was 49. His new cellmate was 24, in prison for a violent dairy robbery.
They were locked into their cell for the evening, during which Katipa told his cellmate to perform a sex act on him.
When he refused, the court was told Katipa became violent and beat the young man unconscious – at which point he raped him.
The victim awoke during the rape and attempted to resist, eventually breaking free. He testified that Katipa beat him as he sought the safety of the top bunk.
The next day, he asked to move out of the cell, keeping his silence until months later when detectives began investigating and only when he was moved to a different part of the prison.
Katipa was convicted of a third rape in prison, said to have occurred in November 2016.
The last complainant was 19, in prison for aggravated robbery and possession of a knife.
Again, Katipa waited until his victim was locked in with him for the night. Late in the evening, he covered the peephole with a towel and blocked access to the emergency button.
He demanded the young man get into his bunk bed naked, said force would be used if he didn’t comply and then forced him to carry out sex acts.
When the 19-year-old sought out a prison officer, asking to change cells, Katipa witnessed the approach.
That evening, back in the cell, he threatened his victim with a knife. Evidence during the trial quoted Katipa telling the young man he was “already doing life” so could kill him “if he wanted to”.
The young man was transferred to a different cell the following day, told his cellmate what had happened and then reported Katipa’s attacks to police.
Detectives tracked down and interviewed Katipa’s cellmates and, in addition to the teenager, received complaints from two other men. He had been bunked with 50 others during his time in prison.
…this horror is your prison system Muddle Nu Zilind so tell me kiwi, are you feeling righteous yet?
Are you ready for the icing on this cake of hate?
Read and scream…
The assault by Katipa came after the conviction of Stephen Mark Gotty, 57, who sexually assaulted a 19-year-old while double-bunked in Mt Eden prison. Gotty received a sentence of preventive detention with a minimum nine years in prison.
The incidents led to a review of the double-bunking policy throughout the prison system.
The review found Katipa’s attacks were not as a result of problems with the double-bunking system but “staff performance failure”.
Beales said the review of the Sacra system found the tool was working – but it wasn’t being used with consistency across the prison network.
The report into use of the Sacra system, released through the Official Information Act, showed Corrections staff didn’t understand how it was meant to be used and would sometimes place inmates in cells with other – then do an assessment to see if they should be housed with someone else.
About three-quarters of the assessments were done on time, the report showed.
The assessments were also delayed if there were staff shortage and in other cases, Corrections officers talked inmates into being double-bunked.
Corrections staff also showed confusion over the NTDB (Not To Double Bunk) warning, with the review stating they were unsure who was meant to be placing the warning on the system or even when they were obliged to do so.
There was also risk attached to the 68 different types of alerts with no guidelines for reference and confused staff as a result.
…Corrections staff had no fucking idea of how to use the system that rated prisoners on safety – their incompetence and total lack of training means they could be creating dozens of rapes every week.
The tinder dry conditions of the over crowded prison nation we’ve collectively built and ignored just needs one spark.
One of the key bits was this (and I don’t mean to belittle what happened in prison):
A year after release, the victim – with no prior sexual violence convictions – raped a woman, was convicted for the attack and returned to prison.
Fairly unequivocal evidence of the fallout in society of this “policy” and its failing implementation – an unnecessary victim created by the “system”.
There’s a nasty hard vindictive streak in our country’s psyche that gets justified by a warped righteous puritanism. Albeit in a different way, it manifested itself for Metiria Turei.
Nope – I think inciting people to riot could be a criminal offence; it could also endanger guards and other undeserving prisoners.
I would be comfortable with Katipa and his ilk being castrated, chemically or otherwise; permanent or otherwise.
Katipa seems such a sicko he’d likely find other dreadful substitute behaviour. He is one of the answers as to why pre-frontal lobotomies used to be carried out more often than they seem to be now.
If, as visiting Canadians intimated, we are going to be living under Sharia Law, Katipa, could have everything cut off including one or two hands.
Christine: “I would be comfortable with Katipa and his ilk being castrated, chemically or otherwise; permanent or otherwise.”
Unfortunately, there’s evidence that castration doesn’t reliably prevent men from having sex. And, given that the motivation of sex offenders isn’t always primarily sexual, they don’t always use their body for rape – if you get my drift…. See this:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2007/12/castration_anxiety.html
I’d read somewhere else about Katipa; it’s a truly awful story. The sheer incompetence of Corrections infuriates me.
I’ve long thought that there’s a relatively small group of incorrigible offenders from whom the rest of us need to be protected and who should never be released from prison, and whose contact with other prisoners must be strictly controlled.
It doesn’t matter how they got to be so dangerous, but they are; it appears that they’re all at very high risk of reoffending. Katipa looks to be one of them.
D’Esterre I accept what you’re saying here, and that rape may be primarily an act of violence, and also that some offendors should be permanently incarcerated, and fellow prisoners should protected from them. Any suggestion otherwise is barbaric.
I regard Corrections as criminally negligent in enabling Katipa to rape and damage, and think that an enquiry into how this occurred is infinitely more important than who leaked Bridges’ expenses – or how much he spent.
If Katipa is the cause of anyone’s psyche being indelibly imprinted with traumatising flashbacks, or waking from sleep sitting bolt upright in terror, then I have zero sympathy for him.
Right now in NZ, every day, we have children experiencing brutal childhoods; some may grow up to be Katipas, some will vow to never be the same.
> “If Katipa is the cause of anyone’s psyche being indelibly imprinted with traumatising flashbacks, or waking from sleep sitting bolt upright in terror, then I have zero sympathy for him.”
Dividing people into those worthy of compassion and those not worthy is part of the problem. Having compassion for our fellow human beings, even when they’ve done reprehensible things, is not as important for them as it is for us, and our ability to maintain a society that is compassionate, and thus civilized. Michel Foucault’s ‘Discipline and Punish’ begins with a horrifying medieval account of a man being publicly tortured as punishment for a crime. We risk regressing back towards this if we cannot be more compassionate towards wrong-doers than they are currently capable of being.
That’s what happens when you have the Sensible Sentencing Trust running penal policy
yes this fucken well pisses me of and its been going on for ages he ain’t the first one to do this. Then we have these sick warped nzders saying they deserve it. How are we suppose to have any confidence in our justice system that is perpetuating violence itself. The rape on these men and some of them very young men has destroyed their lives. Its sickening to read this and for the corrections to say they apologised well in my books this ain’t good enough some heads need to roll and people need to get the boot from their job now.
These men locked behind bars they cant protect themselves from this predatory behaviour. How can you expect prisoners to get on with their lives and contribute to our country when they have been raped while being punished and the very system that is punishing them has allowed this to happen.
Yes Michelle. Tell it like it is. Yes, some of these young guys lives are permanently destroyed, and no number of apologies or payouts can undo the damage done to them.
Not so long ago we had a PM who thought that he was being funny fooling around about gay male rape on some radio show. Had it been male-female rape they wouldn’t have dared to make it a laughing matter, but because it was male on male, it was thought to be funny, and no rape is funny, and anyone who thinks that it is is warped.
When people come out of prison more damaged than when they went in
then the system is majorly morally culpable, and yes, it is utterly sickening to read of this horror.
Some years ago I read of this happening to a young man locked up with a known beast rapist bastard. He committed suicide later. Really!
Raped inmate sought help before suicide
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10605586
The suicide of a prisoner at Christchurch Men’s Prison is being investigated as his family plans to sue the Department of Corrections.
Michael Graham Maxwell was taken off life support on October 16, six days after being found in his cell.
He was serving a sentence for assault, kidnapping and sex with a minor.
Maxwell had been seeking treatment after being raped by cell mate Dean Noble in 2005, The Press reported.
Looking at films like Porridge the UK system is double bunking in a cell with enough room for TWO persons in which you can have a table and chairs.
In the NZ system they are double bunking two persons in a cell designed with enough room for only ONE person friction and violence would seem inevitable.
This I believe is cruel and unusual punishment amounting to a form of torture.
I’ll just add I’ve never been in prison myself, thank GOD!!
Its a shame we can’t somehow link this story to ‘Trump’s America’ or Stormy Daniels, or failing that maybe a couple of visiting racists with a few youtube clips, then it might get some traction in the media and the # movements.
And those 3x examples you give Siobhan are why the leftie media in NZ would print the story as it appeals to the left narrative. But prison stories do not appeal to the majority of NZ voters, as well as leftie journalists, as they couldn’t care if the poor wee prisoners are having it rough…don’t do the crime if your going to complain and bleat like snowflakes if you can’t do the time!
What leftie media do you read. Its bloody hard to find.
But Nah!
The bigger picture starts with much more than comments attributing blame on victims.
While we have a society with a widening gap of wealth and run by people who don’t care, then crime will increase.
The biggest criminals never get charged as they are obscenely wealthy.
Apparently double bunking in single cell also is happening in the UK:
” Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns for the Howard League for Penal Reform, told The Independent: “Many prisoners are sharing cells were designed for one person — maybe six foot by 10 foot — on a bunk bed with an unscreened toilet by the foot of the bed. The practical impact of this overcrowding, alongside the shortages of staff that the prisons are currently experiencing, creates a toxic cocktail.
“They lead to all the problems that have been well publicised in recent months: that suicides in custody in England and Wales were than in any other on record in 2016, the disturbances, the dramatic increase in violence, the fact that drugs have raged out of control. ”
Two thirds of prisons overcrowded prompting warnings UK penal system has reached ‘toxic’ levels
Government statistics show 68 per cent of prisons hold more inmates than their usable ‘certified normal accommodation’ (CNA), with some holding more than 50 per cent over the recommended levels
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/prisons-overcrowding-prisoners-ministry-of-justice-howard-league-a7685641.html
An absolute horror story Bomber. I had to pause several times while reading Fisher’s brilliant report yesterday.Recently a family member up on charges of attempting to import drugs ( personal amounts off the dark web no drugs were found) that he would be going to prison for four years by his barrister, in an effort to make him plead guilty and spare the cost of a trial.Our justice system is completely fucked.The family member is employed in a vital industry ( skilled technician) has no prior convictions and there were no victims or commercial intent.But they want to send him to prison!
Crown law are scum and the legal profession is full of ignorant fuckwits who not only don’t give a fuck they don’t want to learn about what is really going on in our society.
ALL prisons should have 2 to each cell, to not have that is a total waste of prison space in general.
I love how the far left on here, and of course our host Mr Bradbury, basically doesn’t want anyone in prison and of the ones that do deserve to be in prison you all want some psychologist/social worker/Marxist holding their hand every day and letting them know it’s societies fault and not theirs that they are in prison.
Once again I put to you Martyn that the people in prison have at least 40 prior convictions behind them, not murderers/rapists who are sent first offence, but apart from those 2 categories show me any prisoner that have not been arrested multiple times for multiple offences (and for every one that they were caught doing there will be 3-4 times that many they were NOT caught) before they ended up in prison, the first time…or 2nd, 3rd time?!
You all may hope and wish that prisons are more like hotels and violence between inmates can be removed, but you are all living in cuckoo land if you think the voting public (left and right), the victims in almost all cases, will ever even go 50% towards what you all hope for. You are all delusional and should look behind any inmate at his poor unfortunate incarceration at his arrest record, would be an eye opener but I fear you all are blind to anything to do with prisons/prisoners and they have more sympathy with you than the many victims in the prisoners past offences. Arthur Thomas being exhibit #1, why he gets to contribute blog posts on here sums it all up in a nutshell. I have never read/heard him apologising or shown remorse to all his victims over his past 40 odd years of criminal activities.
Sounds like we need to up immigration from Arab States and get that Sharia Law operating here.
I’m Right, you’re wrong.
You are the delusional one if you think that what you call, the “far left,” don’t want anyone in prison.
Stop making things up, and try not to over-simplify serious issues.
That good ole assumption that people are rational and their own poor freely made choices lead them to prison.
Of course, it’s not quite that simple.
https://youtu.be/9X68dm92HVI
Absolutely spot on, (btw its Arthur Taylor, not Thomas)
Do you right wing worriers wake up frightened or where you born that way?
actually I’m right you are bloody wrong I know cause I have family in prison and I have family that just got out and some that are trying to get out and none of them have as many convictions you have said and some of them should not have even gone to prison. Have you been to prison have you even visited one and do you know anyone that has been that has said its a holiday camp if so they must have been in segregation or maybe they joined a gang for protection or have become accustomed to prison as many do. If you read the article you would see the ones that got abused by this monster were not rapist or murderers. I would also like to remind Mr I’m right that I am a victim of violence twice over the worse violence is to take someone life cause you cant bring them back and it destroys you whole whanau. But to turn a blind eye to our men being raped in prison is just plain sick and all because some dumb bell prison guard or his boss removed a sign and then had a bloody cheek to say sorry when its too late. No wonder our recidivism rates are so high. Some of these prisoners have to get out and what sort of people are we releasing back into our communities, new angry monster created and groomed courtesy of or state prisons. And I’m for one am sick of all the sorrys they aren’t good enough the sooner we make changes the better.
Put a bunch of men deprived of sex together anywhere and something is going to happen. That’s why you don’t let foreign armies into your country if at all possible, and don’t give too much power to police and any other authorities as they are likely to be abuse it for sex.
Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill had it right with their song “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” in The Three Penny Opera. Maybe some level of acceptable porn should be made available to prisoners?
Agree 100% with Michelle. Martyn, you’re raising an appalling issue, but saddens me that your anti-violence blog gets a horrific response from Christine who seems to have missed the point.
Katipa must have experienced shit in his own life to behave so gruesomely, so piling more on him is satisfying vengeance – not improving conditions for young (and older) prisoners. Better to look at the bigger picture of disadvantage in a class society and the way the justice system works against the working class, particularly Maori unemployed.
Agree Janio, violence begets violence.
But conflating the #Metoo movement with this story is ignoring/belittling the context #Metoo sprung out of, which is NOT class based, and if it veers into didacticism, that is simply a natural swing of the pendulum until achieved. Suck it up until then.
Janio looking at the big picture is ideal, but it doesn’t stop young men in prison from being damaged by other damaged individuals.
Chemical castration used to be, and perhaps still is used to curb the impulses of pedophiles, and is used in some cancer therapy too. If it helps criminally deviant people to modify their behaviour, then they may be grateful for it. Their victims most certainly would be too.
Like it or not, there are persons who never recover from damage done them – as evidenced by Katipa himself – and whatever his history may be, and however sad, or tragic, or totally heartbreaking, taking steps to stop it being duplicated with those he mixes with is a positive step.
As far as I know, castration affects only the gonads, and is not as brutal as it may sound.
Because of the language used in the blog, I cannot send it out to my email list. Using what IMO is filthy language, does nothing to enhance others’ ability to be knowledgeably informed! The English language is more than adequate for writing an informing blog by anyone with compentence in their “mother tongue”.
In my work as a psych. nurse & nurse tutor, using such language was a sign of an inadequate vocabulary & was before I held those positions & has remained so.
Yeah, well, We tend to be working class around here.
As a health professional you let language be a point of judgment?
Such bias must seriously interfere with your adequacy in tending to many not of your narrow persuasion.
Highly expressive and emotive language is common from those who have inner conflicts and need help.
Obviously not your field. Does race matter?
The real obscenity doesn’t lie within a few designated words.
For your erudition @Isabel. The word FUCK is old English of Saxon origin as is the word cunt or cunny. Bill Bryson’s Mothertongue will bring you and other puritanical pedants up to speed on this. Also get over yourself condescension and lecturing those who choose such language as to how we should express ourselves is a sign of a closed judgmental mind with nowhere to grow.
I guess these clowns currently in government should have signed off on that big prison.
There’s a reason this lot won. Most prisoners are Māori. Minster for corrections Kelvin Davies has stated many times he wants to try things different from before rather than driving backwards really fast. I’m sorry you can’t see that.
And make it worse Andrew.
Crime factories.
Hey, if I had a choice I’d adopt the rattan cane for minor offences and hanging for murder.
Both great deterrents at a fraction of the cost!
You have stated your case and in a few word said a lot about your leanings.
The real cost comes from the mentality behind the sort of actions you espouse.
You don’t seem to get it.
double bunking is a crime because it is known that sexual assault is rampant.
see the following research in australia:
https://www.murdoch.edu.au/_document/News/prison-sexual-assaults.pdf
and from page 50 of the report it is obvious that you cannot tell who will be a perpetrator:
In this study doubled up cells were found to be places of high risk of sexual assault
for vulnerable prisoners. Although prison management and unit officers endeavour to
place prisoners in cells with appropriate cellmates, mistakes are often made. Indeed,
during discussions about the research project with one prison superintendent the
researchers were made aware of an incident whereby a young prisoner was doubled
Goulding & Steels: Predator Or Prey?
51
up with an older relative. The elder relative sexually assaulted the young prisoner in
the doubled up cell. This case clearly illustrates the difficulties that overcrowding
presents to prison officers and prison management. Certainly the policy of ‘double
ups’ has effectively coerced many prisoners into relationships that they would not
have chosen for themselves.
Comments are closed.