Prison bosses say Jim Thacker is in segregation over assaults, threatening to kill, smashing a cell window and setting fires. His family claim he's being treated "worse than a farm animal".
Tony Wall05:00, May 31 2021
MARK TAYLOR / STUFF
Rachel Edge says her son, Travis, did four months in solitary confinement at Auckland South Corrections Facility.
Four years ago, an international report slammed New Zealand’s over-use of solitary confinement in prisons. Since Labour came to power, the practice has only increased, driving some to despair. National Correspondent Tony Wall and data journalist Felippe Rodrigues investigate. Travis Edge is a gang member who’s been in and out of prison most of his adult life. “My son’s a little s.,” says his mother, registered nurse Rachel Edge. “I’ve rung the police on him before, when he’s deserved it. He’s a little s., but he’s my little s., and when I see injustice being done, I fight like a pitbull.”
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Tony Wall05:00, May 01 2021
Chris McKeen/Stuff
Sauni Seleni has worked for the governments of New Zealand and Australia. But when he tried to join the police, he was shocked by the false information they held on him. National Correspondent Tony Wall reports. Tears stream down Sauni Seleni’s face as he describes the impact on him and his family of being branded a “criminal”. An unknown person fraudulently used Seleni’s name during a traffic stop in 2007 – 14 years later, he’s still suffering the consequences. The 40-year-old is a law-abiding citizen with no criminal convictions. He worked as an immigration detention officer in Australia and as a Customs officer in Auckland from 2016 to 2020. He is now into the second year of a law degree at Auckland University of Technology.
The boy has done some community work and sport, but a source familiar with his situation says he spends most of his time playing video games and watching TV. A couple of times he’s absconded at night, the source says, once stealing his caregiver’s car keys, pushing the vehicle down the drive so as not to wake anyone, and then driving off and not returning until morning. Police have visited regularly to check up on him. The youth is one of hundreds of children in the care of Oranga Tamariki who are being housed in motels because other options can’t be found, a practice slammed by the Children’s Commissioner.