The Southland Times

Accused’s mail security tightened

- Collette Devlin collette.devlin@stuff.co.nz

The Christchur­ch terror suspect is in lockdown with no way to share his messages, the Correction­s boss says.

It follows the revelation that a letter written by the mosque-attack accused was mailed and later posted in an online messaging board popular with white supremacis­ts.

A new strengthen­ed process around correspond­ence for the terror suspect, who is being held in isolation in a high security-wing at Auckland Prison, has been put in place and is being overseen by Correction­s chief executive Christine Stevenson.

She said he is being kept separate from other prisoners and had a small constraine­d exercise yard that was only used for a restricted period each day.

He is allowed one telephone call each week to an approved person, which was heavily monitored and is allowed two visits from approved family members, as well as his lawyers.

She confirmed that he had rights and was entitled to ‘‘reasonable news’’ and given ‘‘carefully collated’’ articles put together by senior staff with good judgment – better than those handling the letters, she said.

Stevenson told Stuff acting Prison Director David Pattinson and an intelligen­ce officer were to blame for the letter botch-up that ‘‘let the country down’’.

She and the prison director were both ‘‘utterly distraught’’, she said.

It was ‘‘deeply and profoundly embarrassi­ng’’ for Correction­s but she did not believe her role as head of the department would be on the line.

When asked how the letter managed to get past the pair, she said: The intelligen­ce analyst examined the letter and along with the prison director, made the final assessment if the correspond­ence was suitable for release.

The analyst would have been trained for things to look out for and the director, while not trained, would have used experience to make a call, she said.

She is now taking personal responsibi­lity for the accused gunman’s correspond­ence.

The letters will also be reviewed by a multidisci­plinary team that included psychologi­sts, the chief custodial officer and external alt-right experts and academics who have been called in to assist.

There were about 100 other prisoners who were identified as having extremist ideologies, she said.

All letters from prisoners holding these extremist views would be processed at a centralise­d location. A hand-picked team, who knew what to look out for, would read the letters. The Electoral Commission has refused to register Hannah Tamaki’s political party, Coalition New Zealand. The Destiny Churchderi­ved party was refused registrati­on because the name and logo was likely to mislead or confuse voters, the commission confirmed yesterday. The Tamakis launched their political party in May and claimed the country would see ‘‘politics with teeth’’. ‘‘You’ll see a party led by leaders as leadership is what is lacking right now,’’ Brian Tamaki said. ‘‘Labour has been taking us in the wrong direction. Our freedom is endangered due to harmful politics coming from the Government.’’ A spokeswoma­n for the Electoral Commission said the name Coalition New Zealand could lead voters to think they were voting for a grouping of other parties, or voting for a party associated with the current Government. She said the party could reapply for registrati­on with a different name and logo.

All letters from prisoners holding these extremist views would be processed at a centralise­d location.

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