Content warning: This story contains graphic descriptions of injuries and allegations of assault. Reader discretion is advised.
New Zealand’s longest-serving prisoner, Dean Wickliffe, is accusing Springhill Prison staff of assaulting him and is now on a hunger strike.
The allegations, conveyed by his lawyer, Annette Sykes, are paired alongside claims that she had been denied access to her client.
“Upon his arrival at Spring Hill Corrections Facility, Mr Wickliffe was badly beaten by prison guards when he refused to be double-bunked, and his head slammed into the concrete floor several times,” Ms Sykes told Te Ao Māori News.
“He received black eyes and a three-inch gash on his forehead. He required hospitalisation to deal with these injuries.”
Wickliffe (Te Arawa) has spent 41 years in and out of the correctional system in New Zealand and in June 2020, was released on bail to an address in Maketū.
However, following a change in his living arrangements, he was taken into custody on March 5 this year.
Sykes alleges she had been denied all contact with her client.
“When I was told that the police had denied me access to him while that was happening to him, he said that it was certainly no reason on his part.”
“Then he had gone into a hunger strike on the 10th of March because he was worried about the lack of civil rights given to him that are available to all.”
Sykes didn’t hold back when asked about her thoughts on what her client had gone through.
“I’m fed up with our people getting brutally attacked in prison, in contravention of their human rights.”
“I am sick of the delays to the lawyers in the current regime and I’m wondering whether or not, our civil responsibility, as a nation, is being undermined.”
I mauherehia ia mō te kohuru tangata
Arā noa atu ngā whakawhiunga kua hipokina ki runga i a ia i roto i ngā tau maha kua hori.
I te tau 1972, i hāmenehia ia mō te kōhurutanga a Paul Miet, heoi anō, i te tau 84 i whakaitia ki te hāmene whakamate tangata, tuia i tēnā, ko Wickliffe anake te tangata i whakarērea te whare herehere o Pāremoremo.
“He kaumātua ināianei. Engari, i te wā i tipu ai ia, ka raruraru ia i raro i te maru o te ture, he tino kaupapa, i kohuru ia e rua ngā tāngata, ana, ka mauhere ia mō taua tūāhuatanga,” te kī a Sykes.
Engari hei tāna anō, ahakoa tērā, ka tika hoki me tautoko ia i te kaumātua nei.
“He uri nō te waka o Te Arawa. I tipu ai ia ki raro i te maru o tana whānau, tana kuia, kei Maketū. He uri whakaheke hoki ia o wērā o ngā tātai rangatira o Ngāti Whakaue ki Maketū.”
Corrections responds
Acting Commissioner Custodial Services, Kym Grierson, confirmed an investigation is underway following an incident at Spring Hill Corrections Facility on Thursday 6 March 2025.
“A prisoner allegedly refused a request to enter his cell and, after throwing an item, took a fighting stance towards staff. Following this, staff intervened and the prisoner sustained injuries while being restrained.”
“He received medical treatment from prison health staff and was taken to hospital on Thursday evening. He returned to the prison early the following morning.”
“One staff member involved in the incident is not currently at work.”
Corrections also responded to accusations by Wickliffe’s lawyer that he had been refused access.
“A phone call between the prisoner and his lawyer was booked for 10 March, however, the prisoner refused to leave their cell, so it did not go ahead. The prisoner and the lawyer spoke by phone on Friday 14 March, and an AVL (Audio-visual link) meeting is booked for tomorrow.”
“The prison has no record of any further requests from either the lawyer or the prisoner to contact the other.”
