Crim gets damages

Career criminal Arthur Taylor has been awarded damages of $18,000 for excessive strip searches and having a CCTV camera in his cell. The 66-year-old had sought $1.45 million from the Department of Corrections relating to his treatment as an inmate and other events from June 2011 to March 2018. Taylor claimed his rights were breached under sections of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. He was awarded a total of $12,000, calculated at $1000 for each of the nine searches plus an uplift of $3000 for the cumulative impact. Justice Andru Isac also found Taylor’s placement in a cell at the High Care Unit of Auckland Prison for periods of 2011 and 2012 with an operating and monitored CCTV camera also breached his rights and awarded him a further $6000.