The strip-searches of two high-profile prisoners at an Auckland prison was unlawful, the High Court has ruled.
More than 200 Paremoremo inmates were strip-searched during the incident. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham Farrelly
Career criminal Arthur Taylor and convicted murderer and child sex offender Phillip John Smith were among 209 prisoners strip-searched at Paremoremo in October 2016.
The strip search was prompted by an attack on two officers by four maximum-security inmates.
Taylor and Smith took the Department of Corrections to the High Court in March, alleging the searches were unlawful.
In a decision released today, Justice Peters said the strip searches breached the New Zealand Bill of Rights.
She ordered Corrections to pay Taylor and Smith $1000 each in compensation.
