28 Sept 2018
TAYLOR v ATTORNEY-GENERAL [2018] NZHC 2557
- Citation
- [2018] NZHC 2557
- Court
- High Court
Section 98 requires an officer to have reasonable grounds to believe the specific prisoner to be searched has an unauthorised item; a mass strip search of all prisoners without individualized reasonable grounds is unlawful. The strip searches of Taylor and Smith were therefore unlawful and breached NZBORA s21. The single, brief unlawful searches did not, however, amount to breaches of NZBORA s23(5). Under the PVC the court awarded modest compensatory damages ($1,000 each) as effective redress.