Latest news with #prison
RNZ News
9 hours ago
- RNZ News
Death of prisoner at Mt Eden Corrections Facility treated as homicide
Mt Eden Corrections Facility. Photo: RNZ Multiple investigations have been launched after a man died at Mt Eden Corrections Facility in Auckland. Police said they were made aware of the death at about 4pm on Friday after an 'incident' at the prison. Detective Inspector Greg Brand told RNZ the death of the man was being treated as a homicide. Do you know more? Email "Police were made aware at about 4pm yesterday of a man who had died at the prison following an incident," he said. "Officers continue to follow positive lines of inquiry." Mt Eden Corrections Facility is the main prison for newly remanded prisoners in the Auckland region. The Department of Corrections said the man's next of kin has been notified and all evidence will be given to the police. "Corrections will also carry out a full investigation," Mt Eden Corrections Facility general manager Dion Paki said. "As the prisoner was in a double-bunked cell, the second prisoner who was residing in the cell has been moved to a single-cell." Paki said Corrections was expressing "sincere condolences" to everyone affected. "We acknowledge this will be distressing for staff and other prisoners in the unit and we are providing people with support," he said. Paki said this included access to chaplains and any cultural support. The Inspectorate Office for the department, which operates independently, would also be investigating the death. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
12 hours ago
- RNZ News
Prisoner dies at Mt Eden Corrections Facility
Mt Eden Corrections Facility. Photo: RNZ Multiple investigations have been launched after a man died at Mt Eden Corrections Facility in Auckland. Police said they were made aware of the death at about 4pm on Friday after an 'incident' at the prison. Detective Inspector Greg Brand told RNZ that police were looking into the circumstances of the death, and there are positive lines of enquiry. Do you know more? Email Mt Eden Corrections Facility is main prison for newly remanded prisoners in the Auckland region. The Department of Corrections said the man's next of kin has been notified and all evidence will be given to the police. "Corrections will also carry out a full investigation," Mt Eden Corrections Facility general manager Dion Paki said. "As the prisoner was in a double-bunked cell, the second prisoner who was residing in the cell has been moved to a single-cell." Paki said Corrections was expressing "sincere condolences" to everyone affected. "We acknowledge this will be distressing for staff and other prisoners in the unit and we are providing people with support," he said. Paki said this included access to chaplains and any cultural support. The Inspectorate Office for the department, which operates independently, would also be investigating the death. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
The Sun
17 hours ago
- Politics
- The Sun
I went to see Lucy Connolly in prison and what she told me about her treatment proves there is a two-tier justice system
I HEARD shocking allegations last week that Lucy Connolly – the mother slung in prison for a tweet during the Southport riots – was being badly mistreated inside. As an MP with special privileges, I was able to make a hastily-arranged visit to HMP Peterborough to speak to her for myself. 4 4 What she told me was deeply sinister, and has left me genuinely concerned that someone, somewhere, is trying to keep her locked up for longer. It has been almost a year since Lucy, in a moment of madness, posted on X urging her followers to 'set fire' to migrant hotels. The mum from Northampton was summarily banged up for 31 months with a conviction for inciting racial hatred and has had subsequent appeals chucked out. The whole point of justice is it has to have the confidence of the people it serves — to be decent, fair and equally applied. But while those who upset the 'Keir brigade' are locked up in jail, drug-dealing illegal migrants claim they can't be deported for ludicrous reasons. Ludicrous reasons It is clear confidence is rapidly disappearing down the plug hole, replaced by a genuine fear that we have moved to a two-tier justice system. And so it seems, too, with Lucy's experience in prison. Until last Thursday, she told me she basically had no complaints about her treatment apart from a few niggles. She had been told very clearly all along that, because she was a model prisoner, she was going to what was essentially the 'good girls wing'. Then suddenly she was informed that she would actually be incarcerated in the 'naughty girls wing' for the more violent inmates. Naturally, she was pretty upset with this and challenged the decision — and it was as she was making her case in the adjudication room she noticed lots of wardens gathering around her. It was on seeing the nurse hovering outside that she clocked something bad was about to happen, because a medic is always present whenever officers are preparing to use force. And sure enough, they jumped on her, flattened her on the floor, pushed her arms right behind her back and slapped on very tight handcuffs. She then described to me being bent over and dragged three flights of stairs to the naughty girls wing, where she was thrown in the cell for the rest of the day with no lunch or tea. 4 4 Why would they go from using the lightest form of restraint to the most severe in the blink of an eye? It's so inexplicable that I genuinely believe you have to think the unthinkable: they are trying to provoke a reaction to say she has got violent tendencies and deny early release. Or have they put her on a wing riddled with drugs, to plant some in her cell? I have demanded the head of security reviews all the bodycam footage to get to the bottom of what happened. There's a very, very bad potential there. I told Lucy: 'You've got to stay calm — don't allow yourself to be provoked.' She assured me that she had not reacted. Staying in prison for a second longer than she has to is not an option. Her situation is horrendous. She's got a desperately worried husband and a distressed daughter. But she is resilient. Shaken up — and with visible bruises — but resilient, and over our chat, she was completely lucid, rational and intelligent. Massive mistake We didn't spend much time raking over her tweet — she obviously feels it was a massive mistake she regrets. But when the inmates in her new wing asked what she was in for — and she replied 'a tweet' — they literally fell about laughing. Imagine: Violent, drug-taking women collapsing into laughter being told that someone had joined them because she'd sent a nasty tweet. Judgments like this are why I proposed 'Lucy's Law', so a sentence is triple-checked by a review commission if enough people object via a petition. The quantity of emails and messages I have received supporting this has been incredible — we have captured the public mood. It seems many judges took Starmer's speech after the Southport riots — hitting out at 'far-right thugs' — as an order to hand down extremely harsh sentences. I am also deeply concerned that legal aid lawyers deliberately and wrongly advised them all to plead guilty, saying they would get lighter sentences. That has proved a deception. I think the legal system at best has let itself down. At worst, it has been conspiratorial with the Prime Minister.
CBS News
18 hours ago
- CBS News
Wisconsin man gets life in prison for fatally strangling cellmate because he was Black, gay
A Wisconsin man doing time for trying to kill his mother was sentenced Friday to life in prison for strangling his cellmate. A jury found Jackson Vogel, 25, guilty of first-degree intentional homicide in the death of 19-year-old Micah Laureano at the Green Bay Correctional Institution last year. Vogel told investigators he killed Laureano because Laureano was Black and gay. Brown County Circuit Judge Donald Zuidmulder sentenced Vogel to life in prison with no possibility for extended supervision, which is similar to parole. Vogel told the judge he was sorry just before he was sentenced. "I may not show remorse, I may not be able to understand emotion, I may not be able to understand remorse itself," Vogel said. "That doesn't mean that a person cannot be sorry for what they did at any point in time. Because I am sorry." Vogel was already serving a 20-year prison term handed down in 2018 for repeatedly stabbing his mother, choking her and attempting to snap her neck in a failed attempt to kill her. A guard found Laureano's body hanging from the top bunk of the cell he shared with Vogel on Aug. 27, according to a criminal complaint. Laureano's hands and feet were tied together with orange material. Vogel, who is white, told the guard that he killed Laureano because Laureano was Black and gay, the complaint said. He said he knocked Laureano out, tied his hands and feet and strangled him. Green Bay Correctional Institution, a maximum security facility, opened in 1898. Gov. Tony Evers has proposed closing the prison as part of an overhaul of the state correctional system.
The Sun
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Pregnant Shaughna Phillips says boyfriend will be released from jail ‘within weeks' as she reveals baby's due date
SHAUGHNA Phillips has revealed her boyfriend Billy Webb is set to be released from prison and will be present for the birth of their second child. Love Island star Shaughna, 31, was quizzed about Billy - who was jailed in 2023 on drugs charges - during an Instagram Q&A. 3 3 3 One fan asked: 'Will Billy be home in time for the birth?' Pregnant Shaughna replied: 'Yes! We definitely wouldn't have tried for this baby if he wasn't going to be here. 'I'm so intrigued to see how he's going to be at the birth because he is not good with blood AT ALL. 'So I feel like watching him react will take my mind off of what is happening.' Shaughna also shared her due date with fans, adding "Technically I'm due in November, but will likely be having a planned c-section so more than likely the baby will be here in October." Shaughna and Billy are already parents to two-year-old daughter Lucia. The Sun recently revealed how Shaughna and Billy managed to try for a baby despite his sentence. An insider said: 'Billy has been in a Category D prison, which means he has been able to spend a fair bit of time with Shaughna. 'He even managed to be home over Christmas, which meant a lot to her and, of course, Lucia. He hasn't been released as many people thought, but he has a lot of privileges.' Category D prisons - also known as open prisons - have minimal security and "low risk" inmates are allowed to leave the site to work, "resettle" or attend education during the day. In November . 'The best couple of days, this Christmas is going to be so special.'
