By STAFF REPORTER and NZPA
Mongrel Mob members received up to $90,000 in compensation for beatings at the hands of prison guards, it was claimed in Parliament yesterday.
Act leader Richard Prebble floated the figure during question time after Justice Minister Phil Goff refused to reveal how much the prisoners got, citing a confidentiality agreement signed as part of an out-of-court settlement.
Mr Prebble suggested that one prisoner, who had allegedly bought a Harley Davidson motorcycle and a late-model car, was paid the $90,000 despite Crown Law Office advice that a jury "would not pay him a dollar."
Mr Goff, replying on behalf of Attorney-General Margaret Wilson, said the case was settled out of court because the Crown would probably have lost at trial.
"I have no idea whether that figure is correct or a figment of [Mr Prebble's imagination]. I simply don't know.
"I am appalled that the vigilante actions by prisoner officers ... and I am appalled that the likely court result forced us to pay this sum of taxpayer money to the scumbags ... "
But Mr Goff's comments may bring further controversy. Tony Ellis, the lawyer representing two of the prisoners, rapist Michael Ratima and would-be killer Warren Te Hei, said Mr Goff had undermined the sincerity of the public apology which was part of the settlement.
His clients, both still in jail, would consider laying another complaint, which could trigger a claim for further compensation.
Mr Ellis would not comment on the size of the payout but said the confidentiality deal was entered into at the request of the Crown, not the prisoners.
Mr Prebble told the Herald the $90,000 figure came from "friends of the family" of one of the prisoners who had contacted the Act party offices.
Ms Wilson disclosed the payout on Wednesday when she apologised to the inmates for incidents at Mangaroa Prison, near Hastings, in 1991 and 1993.
Abuses, including systematic beatings by hit squads of guards, were reported to United Nations committees for human rights and torture.
Some prisoners were held naked in outdoor yards overnight and denied medical attention for injuries including bruising, black eyes and cracked ribs.
Four of the nine who suffered abuse lodged a $1.4 million civil suit against the Crown in 1998 after the Crown Law Office decided not to prosecute the guards.
The other inmates who lodged suits were John Gillies, serving 12 years for crimes including the 1993 screwdriver stabbing of Hastings policeman Nigel Hendrikse, and Nevara Raymond Raheke, jailed for rape.
Raheke is the only not still in prison.
The secret payouts were widely condemned on talkback radio yesterday and by victim rights campaigner Norm Withers, who said the men had been treated better than the victims of their own violent crimes.
"I don't know of any victims who can take their complaint to a UN committee. The Government has set a dangerous precedent. I demand that the public be told how much the whole exercise has cost."
He said the prison guards should have been prosecuted so that justice could be seen to be done.
But penal reform campaigner Peter Williams, QC, and Amnesty International said the compensation was proper.
Mr Williams said prisoners were particularly vulnerable to violence. "They have no retreat and have problems in communicating or making a complaint - especially if they are in solitary [confinement]. Violence in prisons is to be deplored regardless of what crimes have been committed."
The prison officers dismissed after the abuse came to light were themselves compensated in earlier action for suspensions imposed after the incidents.
Napier lawyer Russell Fairbrother, who represented the officers and won settlements including reinstatement, said compensation for the inmates was "entirely appropriate."
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