Prison death: Gang revenge could 'snowball'

Benton Marni Parata. Photo / supplied

The suspected murder of a Christchurch prisoner in his jail cell is just the eighth such case in the past two decades, but one expert fears that gang revenge could "snowball" out of control.

Benton Marni Parata, 44, was attacked by several inmates in his cell at Christchurch Men's Prison's high-security Rawhiti unit last Wednesday.

He was hospitalised with serious injuries and put on life support at Christchurch Hospital.

But Parata, originally from Westport but recently living in the North Canterbury town of Rangiora, died today after his life support was turned off on Sunday.

Dr Jarrod Gilbert, a spokesman for penal reform group Howard League, said there had been rumours that three Mongrel Mob prospects were present during the gang-related attack.

It had resulted in two people connected with the Mongrel Mob being beaten up over the past few days, Dr Gilbert understood.

The atmosphere inside some areas of the prison would now be "very tense", Dr Gilbert said.

"Staff will need to be extremely alert in coming days and longer to ensure that the violence does not spread and snowball," he said.

"As a general rule, longer term prisons want to just get on with their lags, but things like this breed retaliation -- in fact, often they demand it."

Long lockdowns and careful segregations will be used to quell the violence, said the author of Patched: The History of Gangs in New Zealand.

"One can only hope, perhaps, that grieving does not lead to more tragedy. And that justice is served by the courts and not in the prisons. But again, prisons often run on their own rules," Dr Gilbert said.

Parata's death is just the eighth "possible homicide" since the 1995/96 financial year, according to Corrections.

The last suspicious death -- categorised by Corrections as a "possible homicide" -- was six years ago.

Police inquiries are ongoing as they await full post-mortem examination results.

Parata's family remembered Parata as "a true free spirit" and a man with "a huge heart".

"To be cruelly and cowardly taken from us is very hard to accept."

In 1994, Parata and his father Dean Haweturi Parata were charged with murder after an assault on white supremacist Tony Keith Walsh at a Westport party.

Dean Parata was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years in jail.

Benton Parata, then aged 24, was found guilty of assaulting Tristan Lee Tamati at the same party and was sentenced to three years' jail.

He was jailed for an extra four years for an unrelated assault on a Blenheim police officer.

In 2001, Parata was sent back to prison for five years after he bashed and robbed an elderly man.