Inmate moving for rehabilitation
A man who once kicked open the door of his cell in Aotearoa’s most secure prison unit and broke a Correction officer’s arm is set to move to Rimutaka Prison as part of his rehabilitation.
While serving time for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, Hemi Te Poono has racked up another 12 convictions, including at least one related to the serious assault of veteran Auckland Prison officer Sharon Irwin in October 2020.
Irwin needed surgery and was off work for nearly a year after she and her colleague were attacked by Te Poono when they went to check whether his door was secure.
He had broken out of his cell in the maximum security wing, which has also housed the Christchurch mosque terrorist, before he set upon the pair on a landing.
Te Poono’s prevalence for violence behind the wire led to him gaining a reputation as one of the country’s most dangerous inmates. His prison sentence was also extended.
In 2016, he went on trial in the High Court at Wellington for the murder of Samuel Culling in Palmerston North. A jury found him not guilty in that case. However, he was jailed for a separate spate of offending, which began when he tried to burgle the Manawatū Standard building while carrying a loaded sawn-off shotgun in August 2015.
In a single year, he was involved in 78 conduct and compliance incidents, according to a decision by the Parole Board obtained by Stuff after a hearing last month.
However, since the middle of 2022, there had been a “remarkable change” in Te
Poono’s behaviour, the Parole Board noted in an earlier decision, from February last year. His security classification has since been downgraded to low/medium.
Although the board declined to give Te Poono parole at that time, it said he “showed a genuine commitment to make a substantial change in his lifestyle”.
A plan was made to transfer him to the Māori Focus Unit at Waikato’s Waikeria Prison and then onto Upper Hutt’s Rimutaka Prison to attend a rehabiliation programme, as soon as he was able to reduce his security classification from high to low or medium, the February 2023 Parole Board report said.
But, the more recent decision said “for various reasons, that has not occurred”.
Te Poono’s lawyer, Emma Priest, told the Parole Board her client had been “frustrated” by the barriers that prevented him from completing the planned rehabilitation programme.
Te Poono is now expected to be moved to Te Whare Manaakitanga at Rimutaka Prison in June. Te Whare Manaakingatanga is one of four special treatment units where prisoners at high risk of violent reoffending can participate in a nine-month psychological programme.
The Parole Board said it was essential that Te Poono finished the programme before it could be satisfied that he was ready to be released on parole. Te Poono was next due to appear before the Parole Board in June 2025, two years before his statutory release date.
Corrections has previously refused to comment on the plan to move Te Poono between prisions, or the security measures it is putting in place at Rimutaka Prison to ensure the safety of staff and other inmates.