Notorious killer and sex offender loses High Court battle to allow prisoners to have sex
Convicted killer and child sex offender Phillip John Smith has lost a High Court bid to allow prisoners to have sex at Rolleston Prison’s treatment units for child sex offenders.
Smith was jailed for life in 1996 for murdering a man in Johnsonville, Wellington, in December 1995. He had been sexually abusing the man’s son and tracked the family down after they left Wairarapa to get away from him.
He filed a High Court proceeding against the prison director at Rolleston Prison, near Christchurch, for its rule prohibiting sexual activity between male prisoners, alleging it was discrimination against homosexuality.
In his decision, Justice Gerald Nation said he was satisfied the rule was lawful and it protected prisoners from harm and helped reduce reoffending.
Convicted killer and child sex offender Phillip John Smith wanted consensual sex between prisoners to be legal and argued that denying prisoners sex was homophobic.
Phillip John Smith of course was a child sex offender who murdered the father of the child he was molesting, so being lectured on consent by him was always going to be a tough ask, but beyond the damaged evil that is Phillip John Smith was a revealing insight into NZ Justice.
Rolleston Prison’s treatment units for child sex offenders had a very relaxed attitude between prisoner relationships until 2017 when some relationships turned sour and caused issues…
A psychological services manager at the two units for child sex offenders told the court that any sexual related behaviour between residents was viewed as problematic and the prison had a duty of care to the large number of the men in one of the units who had intellectual disabilities and were vulnerable.
The prison director said the rule was introduced in 2017 after some relationships within the unit ended in less than amicable circumstances.
…the fundamental problem is that Prison Authorities couldn’t legitimise sexual relationships between prisoners because the units have huge numbers of mentally ill sex prisoners whose consent couldn’t be properly ascertained.
In short, they couldn’t engage in sexual activity because free consent couldn’t be established.
Just consider what that tells us about prisons in NZ.
That we have a large number of prisoners who are too vulnerable to consent to sex, which begs the question, why are they in prison then, why aren’t they at some type of rehabilitation centre receiving treatment for their mental illness rather than being dumped in a prison as rape bait for more aggressive prisoners?
Have we opted for the cheaper option of just basing a unit inside a prison and calling that rehabilitation?
In NZ our focus is on punishment and an insistence that prisoners suffer, by ruling out consensual sex between prisoners because so many of their prisoners are mentally ill is an alarming reality of what vengeance has mutated our prisons into.
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there can be no ‘consent’ in the coercive atmosphere of prison* even if run properly and ours are a fuckin shambles, it’s a licence for predators which is why this paedo killer wants it, it’s a licence for him to abuse.
*like a any institution religious or secular hierarchy imposes, it doesn’t want or seek ‘consent’
Pretty nuch spot on there.
Yip goes with the punishment
Oh this is just woefully sad sad sad on all levels. Times are changing is an old cliche but has merit today. Collectively, humpty has gone through and is still going through, an awful lot the past few years. This is the time to bring about change, however incrementally it begins. Mental health is a massive issue. It always has been. But now there are many more people on the planet, so much more prospect of developing empathy, as a species. We need to care more about our special people. That includes the psychopaths, the narcissists, the sex offenders, the disabled, the traumatized, the great unwashed, you and I. Empathy heals. Start by caring. Jmo
*humanity, not humpty lol
Interesting musings Martyn.
The dude in the picture is in the prison for sexual assault/rape/murder- so forcing himself on someone who does not consent. I don’t think anyone in this country give a fuck if he is allowed to ejaculate over his hand or over his cellmate who may or may not be consenting. He should have thought Prison before he forced his needs on those that were not interested in his needs.
Sexual contact in Prison is discouraged for a few reasons. First. No one can really consent in prison to anything as the rules are set by the Department of Corrections/Warden of the Prison. No one can consent to sex with a ward/guard/employee of the prison due to imbalance of power. If you are locked up with a certain type of criminal can you get raped or would that be consenting if you don’t scream no repeatedly? If a male prisoner locked up with women in a cell gets her pregnant, do you think she consented to having sex/relationship with that person?
Can you define ‘ consent ‘ for prison use? Will hte Prison be held responsible for pregnancies during incarceration’s? HIV infections? Further mental health issues ? Can the government be held responsible?
If a heterosexual man demanded access to sex in prison, should we send them some prostitutes?
As for the unmet mental healthcare in NZ, please write a very concerned and sternly worded the Government, Labour Party, Mr. Little MP. Let us know what the response is.
FYI: Prisons in NZ are segregated by gender.
I think he was referring to possibilities of trans being imprisoned in their gender of identity prison while still biologically being original sex.
The indifference/encouragement of rape/sexual assault in our prisons is exactly what the ‘hang em high” crowd in the likes of the Sensible Sentencing Trust want.
and then there is the double bunking debacle. should be seen as a crime. and no you cant tell who might be a predator amongst prisoners. see pp 50-51 of this research report:
https://www.murdoch.edu.au/_document/News/prison-sexual-assaults.pdf
a youth was put in with an older relative thinking he would be safe. but no he wasnt.
double bunking is abusive. who is accountable for the damage done?
Double bunking was developed to allow stronger prisoners to rape and assault weaker prisons, re-inforcing the ‘punishment’ aspect.
Please, please – bring back the death penalty for Philip, and his lot
careful what you wish for.
MartinC — are you keen for Phillip, and his lot to live next to you…if so, great! If not, death penalty
My god Martyn this is a difficult read.
“Just consider what that tells us about prisons in NZ.”
It tells us we are similar to Dulwich school.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9385657/Dulwich-College-breeding-ground-sexual-predators-claims-ex-pupil-open-letter.html
Years ago we had various groups calling for hospitals like Sunnyside & Templeton in Christchurch to be closed & many of the higher grade patients ended up in prison. While the hospital service needed to improve that was not done as for some reason the different groups seemed unable to comprehend how that could be done & you can only assume that they did not care if former patients ended up in prison.
As you succinctly say “why aren’t they at some type of rehabilitation centre receiving treatment for their mental illness” is a better question & it is something that is long overdue.
” Have we opted for the cheaper option of just basing a unit inside a prison and calling that rehabilitation? ”
We run everything on the smell of an oily rag. Neo liberal policies are all about doing less for less and if it does not return a profit it not worth doing it.
this predator wants pizza, let him eat grilled cheese off the radiator…as the quote goes
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