PRIVATE PROSECUTIONS
PRISONER VOTING RIGHTS
In December 2010 Parliament amended the Electoral Act 1993, extending to all prisoners a prohibition on voting that was formerly restricted to prisoners sentenced to three or more years’ imprisonment. In Taylor v Attorney-General, Taylor sought to have this extension overturned, although before Parliament even passed the bill, Attorney-General Chris Finlayson had declared that “the blanket disenfranchisement of prisoners appears to be inconsistent with Section 12 of the Bill of Rights Act and that it cannot be justified”
CIVIL & CRIMINAL CASE PREP
Arthur Taylor now lives a humble life in Dunedin. After spending over 38 years on the inside, he knows a thing or two about the system. Arthur is inundated with requests from people from all works of life on a daily basis. If you’re looking for help, advice or case preparation – Arthur maybe just the person you need to talk to. Please use the form on the contact page to get in touch today.
Royal Commission Inquiry
The comprehensive and above all, honest, finding of the Royal Commission's Inquiry into abuse in state care has renewed the hope that I and my fellow Survivors will finally receive effective redress and help to overcome the terrible crimes the state committed against...
Murray Kitching
This is a "victim impact statement" former disgraced Rimutaka screw Murray Kitching submitted in an attempt to get more than $44,340.91 in "compensation" from me. Needless to say, it was thrown out. You might notice one major contradiction here; he claims to have been...
Arthur Taylor’s endless fight for his rights
Sunday News; Auckland, New Zealand. 17 Apr 2022: 2. Jailhouse lawyer Arthur Taylor and the Corrections Department have been in a battle of wills for decades. Where does it end? Kelly Dennett reports. ON Wednesday, Attorney-General counsel...
INMATES IN CHARGE OF THE ASYLUM
JUNE 2000 Last issue the former head of Paremoremo jail called for the reintroduction of the death penalty. Now the prisoners are saying the jails are just training grounds for criminals. CLARE SWINNEY reports A police helicopter hovered overhead during a conversation...
THE LAST MOMENTS OF A FUGITIVE’S FREEDOM; ‘Armed police, don’t move’:
STUART, Ian. Waikato Times; Hamilton, New Zealand. 23 June 1998: Police found escaped prisoner Arthur Taylor sitting with his back againt a tree, his head between his knees. The words "Armed police, don't move" rang through the bush. Taylor didn't move. The challenge...
Escapers heavily armed – police:
MORRISON, Tina-Marie. Dominion; Wellington, New Zealand. 22 June 1998: 1. POLICE hunting for four escaped prisoners believe they may now be heavily armed after high-powered guns and ammunition were stolen from a vacant Coromandel Peninsula house that was left...
Those we often love to hate:
POTTER, Tony. Sunday Star - Times; Wellington, New Zealand. 21 June 1998: WHAT is it about lawyers that people really, really hate? They have an awful press, worse even than used car dealers, pornographers and spin doctors. And they're even as expensive as dentists....
Escaper an intelligent, formidable criminal: police:
McGEHAN Kris. Waikato Times; Hamilton, New Zealand. 18 June 1998: Police sources say Taylor, an escaped armed robber, is an intelligent, formidable criminal. Waikato police officers who dealt with him during his lengthy criminal career say the 41-year-old, who...
Escaper has deep hatred of police – sources:
REID, Neil. Evening Post; Wellington, New Zealand. 18 June 1998: Paremoremo Prison escaper Arthur William Taylor has a conviction for pointing a pistol at a Levin police officer and allegedly sent another officer bullets in the mail. Paremoremo Prison escaper Arthur...
Arthur on Wikipedia.
Arthur William Taylor (born 1956) is a high-profile former prison inmate who served time in Auckland Prison at Paremoremo, Auckland, New Zealand. In 2016 he had spent 38 years in prison and had a total of 152 convictions.[2]As a prison inmate, he achieved a public profile as a “prison lawyer” due to initiating court action on behalf of himself and prisoners’ rights.
Prison Escapes
Taylor says he has escaped from prison twelve times, including twice in Australia. In 1998, he and three others, including murderer Graeme Burton, escaped from Auckland Prison by scaling the walls at Paremoremo, snipping through the wire at the top and getting away in a waiting Toyota Hiace. They spent a few days in a millionaire’s bach in the Coromandel. Taylor was caught after a massive police operation and returned to prison. He was released at the end of his sentence in 2001.
But what really made his name was an audacious prison break from Paremoremo, New Zealand’s maximum-security facility in 1998. The escape plot had been meticulously planned over the prison’s phones; masks, camouflage clothing and bulletproof vests were smuggled into the prison, while equiptment, inclduing firearms, was hidden outside the walls to help Taylor and his fellow fugitives evade capture.
Three inmates went on the run with Taylor, including two convicted murderers, Graeme Burton and Darren John Crowley, as well as armed robber Matthew Thompson. The escape had triggered a massive police manhunt. The fugitives spent six days on the run in Muriwai and then the Corromandel Peninsula, where they hid in a the bush and hunkered down in a $2.5 million holiday home of a wealthy American businessman.
Eventually, the police caught up with them. Taylor had three years added to his sentence. It wasn’t the first time he’d escaped from custody, nor would it be the last.
