NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Ex jail-house lawyer's time in Dunedin done

By Rob Kidd
Otago Daily Times·
17 Aug, 2019 04:33 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Arthur Taylor did not make it to law school but it will not stop him holding the powerful to account. Photo / Gerard O'Brien

Arthur Taylor did not make it to law school but it will not stop him holding the powerful to account. Photo / Gerard O'Brien

Former jail-house lawyer Arthur Taylor has spent six months in Dunedin since being released on parole. But the honeymoon might soon be over as he eyes a move north.

When someone turned up at Arthur Taylor's Dunedin home wanting to buy a gun, he told them staunchly: "I'm retired from all that sort of carry-on."

This week marked six months since the 63-year-old's release from prison and his transition from jail-house lawyer to legal advocate.

He has lived with fellow human-rights campaigner and lawyer Hazel Heal and her family since the Parole Board deemed him fit for release.

"It's been brilliant," Mr Taylor said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He told the Otago Daily Times the people of Dunedin had been "very welcoming" and people had been requesting selfies with him since his arrival.

But his stay appears to be coming to an end.

This month alone he had been back and forth to the North Island working on various legal battles.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

And Mr Taylor had been splashed across numerous news platforms after a Waitangi Tribunal report released this week found stripping prisoners of the right to vote was inconsistent with treaty principles.

He continued to lead the charge to have the 2010 voting ban reversed.

Mr Taylor said a move to Wellington by Christmas was on the cards.

"I'll be very sorry to leave Dunedin but most of the work is in the North Island," he said.

Discover more

World

Mert Ney charged with murder over Sydney stabbing

16 Aug 11:25 AM
World

Why Nora's family may never know the truth behind her death

16 Aug 07:50 PM
Lifestyle

Corn Flakes created to 'stop masturbation'

16 Aug 10:50 PM
World

Chilling details emerge of Epstein's 'pimp' ex-lover

17 Aug 02:25 AM

Originally, Mr Taylor had planned to study law at the University of Otago but after he was declined entry at the start of the academic year, he rethought his approach.

The law allows corporations to be represented by a non-lawyer, a provision which meant he could have the same standing without putting himself through a law degree.

It was not as though he needed to prove himself, Mr Taylor said.

"People already know I know what I'm doing," Mr Taylor said.

While incarcerated, Mr Taylor received numerous requests from other prisoners to help them out with difficulties they were experiencing behind bars.

Since being out, he had been inundated to astonishing new levels.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Every day I have to do a triage process," he said.

Though he could only lend his legal mind to the most severe or wide-reaching cases, Mr Taylor said he tried to give everyone advice where possible.

The seal of approval from prisoners was one thing but the ex-crim had also been given a clean bill of (mental) health by a Corrections psychologist who assessed him between March and July.

The report, provided to the ODT, said he was on an "offending desistance pathway ... given his lack of offending in recent years, his age, and his developing pro-social self-identity as a `jailhouse lawyer'."

"Early in the treatment process Mr Taylor tended to dominate the discussions by talking rapidly and forcibly at times about his many issues with Corrections," psychologist Richard Greer said, but that lost intensity.

"At no time did he impress as having a personal agenda against any one individual and in the main his activities and efforts appeared to be reasonable and focused on system changes."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Though Corrections' RoC*RoI algorithm put him at high risk of reoffending, Mr Greer said that was an overestimation. Mr Taylor's likelihood of committing further violent crime was now low, he said. No further treatment was recommended.

While he had not quite made it to law school while in Dunedin, Mr Taylor had been a hit with the students after featuring in a video by the Otago Law Revue entitled "Sparthur Taylor".

Swigging a beer, wearing a police cap in a spa pool, Mr Taylor tells his interviewer what it is like in prison and

says: "Someone needs to take these buggers on and hold them accountable."

Mr Taylor's sentence ends in July 2022.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

'The perfect excuse': Hastings trail lights up NZ Music Month

08 May 11:23 PM
New Zealand

Deer dies after dash on to Hawke's Bay Airport runway

08 May 10:51 PM
New ZealandUpdated

Farmers unite against council's water restrictions in Hawke's Bay

08 May 10:32 PM

One tiny baby’s fight to survive

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

'The perfect excuse': Hastings trail lights up NZ Music Month

'The perfect excuse': Hastings trail lights up NZ Music Month

08 May 11:23 PM

Nine venues host the Heretaunga Hastings Music Trail on May 10 and 18.

Deer dies after dash on to Hawke's Bay Airport runway

Deer dies after dash on to Hawke's Bay Airport runway

08 May 10:51 PM
Farmers unite against council's water restrictions in Hawke's Bay

Farmers unite against council's water restrictions in Hawke's Bay

08 May 10:32 PM
BoP under heavy rain warning, possible thunderstorms

BoP under heavy rain warning, possible thunderstorms

08 May 10:26 PM
Connected workers are safer workers 
sponsored

Connected workers are safer workers 

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP