One of New Zealand's most notorious sex offenders is suing the Corrections Department for $1 million over claims he was made to sleep on a thin mattress and use small towels.
Nicholas Reekie also claims he was tortured by having his arm twisted behind his back and forced to eat dry sandwiches while prison guards enjoyed fry-ups at Auckland's Paremoremo Prison High Care Unit.
In a long-running legal case, which is expected to cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, Reekie said he was deprived of adequate light, didn't have enough toilet paper, and was called "knob rot" by guards after developing a genital infection.
Reekie is suing the Corrections Department, the Attorney-General and Waitakere District Court for humiliation and unlawful detention in 2001 and 2002.
Reekie was sentenced to preventive detention in 2003 with a minimum non-parole period of 25 years after being convicted on 31 charges, including abduction and rape, for offences against four female victims, aged between 11 and 69.
