By ALAN PERROTT
A month behind bars exposed Brian Hill to new ideas, but they have not shaken his belief in his innocence.
Mr Hill, 44, and his friend Thomas Owen attracted nationwide notoriety after pleading guilty to owning Joey, the dog that viciously mauled 7-year-old Carolina Anderson in January.
Despite their pleas, Mr Hill is still adamant another dog was responsible. And he is angry Mr Owen is in jail since he was not Joey's owner.
While his friend pressed ahead with an unsuccessful appeal, Mr Hill handed himself in at Mt Eden Prison.
He was transferred to Paremoremo prison and released on Wednesday, having served one month of his two-month sentence.
"I've gained a lot of knowledge in prison," he said. "And I'm sorry to say it, but I made some really good friends there as well. I've lost a few on the outside, people who judged me too quickly. But inside we were all there for different reasons, but we were all there to do our time.
"When you've all got nothing to lose, everyone stops being criminals and become people as far as I'm concerned."
Now that he is out of prison, Mr Hill knows his life will never be what it was. But he is more concerned about Mr Owen, who is in hospital after being seriously beaten while standing in a breakfast queue on his first morning in Mt Eden.
The pair have not spoken. As a recent inmate, Mr Hill cannot visit and they are yet to get prison permission to make phone calls.
"I know Henry and he wouldn't have run away," he said. "I just wish the judge had left him out until I got home. He had the choice of segregation or mainstream, which is what I did. He thought he could do it as well.
"But I was brought up here around Maori, Pacific Islanders and other cultures, I have experiences he can't draw on. He also looks a bit different.
"I dyed my hair black. It gave me a few days of anonymity. By the time they found out who I was, they were my friends."
He intends to stay in touch with several inmates and plans to write to the Immigration Service to help several stay in the country.
Given his refusal to accept any guilt, it is no surprise his faith in the legal system has been shaken.
"It's probably 80 per cent good and 20 per cent bad.
"Unfortunately, we got the 20 per cent that's bad. Lawyers say you are instructing them, but they know how everything works, we knew jack.
"Later, when I saw all the mistakes that had happened in our case, that's when I decided to go to jail. I just wanted to get it over with."
Mr Hill said he will never plead guilty again.
Jail gives dog man new pals
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