Locked up for life

BY RHONDA MARKBY

While 440 murderers are serving life sentences in New Zealand prisons at present, many more are still feeling the effects of their sentence years after they have left prison. Staff reporter Rhonda Markby spoke to parole board chairman Judge David Carruthers about what a life sentence really does mean for those who commit the very worst offences.

Life means life – even when it's not behind bars.

While there are frequently calls from interest groups and individuals for longer sentences – for life sentences to mean life – for some of New Zealand's convicted murderers it really does mean that already, and the laws look set to get even tougher.

Last month Timaru man Robin Churchill was denied parole. Churchill murdered his wife in 1993 and has been in prison for 15 years. It was his sixth appearance before the parole board.

Back when Churchill committed his crime, a life sentence had a mandatory non-parole period of 10 years. The following month, September 1993, saw a law change which gave the courts the ability to impose a minimum non-parole period of more than 10 years in exceptional circumstances.

Yet, for Churchill and the other 439 murderers behind bars, there is no guarantee they will ever get out.

Sentencing judges are now required to set a non-parole period when a life sentence is imposed. A life sentence is mandatory for murder unless it was a mercy killing, or there had been prolonged and severe abuse of the defendant or their children.

In 2002, the Sentencing Act changed the law, meaning the court had to set a minimum non-parole period of at least 10 years for murder. Previously the "standard" minimum non-parole period was 10 years and the court could only impose a longer minimum non-parole period in exceptional circumstances. Nowadays judges must impose a minimum non-parole period of at least 17 years if aggravating factors are present.

The 30-year non-parole period given to William Bell who murdered three people at the Mt Wellington-Panmure RSA in 2001, is the longest non-parole period handed down so far.

Graeme Burton, who murdered Paul Anderson in May 1992, was released on parole in July 2006, and then went on to murder Karl Kuchenbecker in January 2007, has a 26-year non-parole period.

Liam Reid, who raped and murdered deaf woman Emma Agnew in Christchurch last December, 10 days after he raped and attempted to murder a Dunedin woman, will spend 23 years in prison before he is seen by the parole board.

And the sentences look set to get longer. The Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill introduced this year provides for offenders who are convicted of murder to be ineligible for parole if they have previously been sentenced to prison for five years or more for a serious violent offence.

The law change would give courts the option of imposing a life sentence without parole for the worst murders, regardless of the offender's prior record.

For those offenders, a life sentence will mean life in prison. The Bill is currently being considered by the Law and Order Committee, which will report back to Parliament with its recommendations.

But regardless of the length of non-parole periods, there is no guarantee a prisoner will get out.

As Parole Board chairman, Judge David Carruthers explained, murderers and the further 241 prisoners who have been sentenced to indefinite imprisonment will remain behind bars until they are no longer considered a risk to the community.

The majority of those sentenced to preventive detention are child sex offenders.

The board has had very little success in releasing preventive detainees.

"They are very different from murderers who sometimes have done only one thing in their lives that has brought them to prison. And sometimes it is as much terrible, harsh luck as anything else.

"There might be some people in prison for stabbing someone who were lucky enough to miss a vital organ, and the person did not die. The consequences (for that offender) would have been much different, but in moral terms it is the same action," Judge Carruthers said.

"Murderers are usually quite young, with the average age being 26-27, but preventive detainees are older men with an average age of about 47. You need a substantial history of serious offending ... showing you are a terrible risk to people, particularly young children.

"Because they come into the system later, there is now an ageing population of prisoners, with a number in their 70s who have been in prison for over 40 years."

While the parole board sees them every year, as there is nowhere suitable for them to live, they don't get released. It costs around $100,000 a year to keep each one in prison.

While the general public might not have an issue with preventive detainees remaining in prison regardless of the cost, there are often calls for murderers to serve longer sentences.

It's the parole board that is effectively the gatekeeper.

"We are unpopular whatever we do," Judge Carruthers admits. "We are unpopular with them and their families if we keep them in. Some victims' groups and some community members get outraged if we let them out.

"Our business is with risk, and assessing risk. There will be some who are sentenced to life imprisonment who will never get out."

The chances of a lifer being released when they first see the parole board is slim. It saw 71 lifers for the first time in the 2006/07 and 2007/08 years. None were paroled. During the same two-year period only three of the 52 lifers seen for the second time were paroled. But even once they get the nod and leave prison, their life is anything but their own.

"If you have committed a murder, the cost to you of that is you are on parole for life and that cannot be changed," Judge Carruthers explained.

Even after 10 to 15 years, a parolee is likely to be seeing their probation officer fortnightly or monthly. They can't change address or travel overseas without the parole officer's approval. Who they live with, where they work, and what programmes they must take will all be controlled.

Put a foot wrong and the parolee can find themselves back behind bars.

It could be that they have got another conviction. The probation officer will apply to have them recalled and the board makes the decision whether they should be back behind bars.

Former Timaru woman Michelle Nicholson found herself back in prison after being recalled. She was convicted of the 1997 murder of Temuka businessman Dennis Hind. Released from prison in December 2007, she was recalled in mid-2008, after forming a relationship with a convicted killer and harbouring him when he absconded from a residential rehabilitation programme.

The number of people being recalled has increased due to the stricter adherence to the rules by the probation service, Judge Carruthers said.

It's also the post-Graeme Burton situation.

"We have been criticised for being much more conservative (and recalling offenders). You don't live through the Graeme Burton stuff without it having an effect on you," Judge Carruthers acknowledges.

"We get reminded of it daily. You can't help but remember an innocent man was killed and others were hurt."

Ultimately the success of a person on parole comes down to the support they have. Those with very good family and community support are most likely to succeed.

"There are a lot of families who stay in there and keep visiting regularly and are waiting for people to come out. They rally around and have good accommodation and work arrangements. Good close support, that makes the difference."

Ironically it's the parole board's success stories that the public doesn't hear about.

"I complained about this recently when I was making a speech," says Judge Carruthers.

"A couple of chaps came up to me separately, shyly, afterwards. They were murderers. They had been released for about 15 years, one of them, 12 the other. They had just got on with their lives. Each of them had families. One was working, the other had a business, paying taxes. They said `we just keep our heads down'." They don't want to know, they don't want to talk about it.

"It is not always comfortable work (sitting on the parole board), but it is quite fascinating, because it involves a lot of human beings."

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