Name secrecy for accused killer angers jail guard's mother

Jason Palmer, pictured with his mother Ada Palmer on his wedding day, was fatally injured. Photo / Supplied

The mother of a slain prison guard is furious that the inmate accused of killing him has been granted name suppression.

United States-born Jason Palmer, 33, was six months into the job when he was allegedly punched to the floor by a high-risk prisoner at Waikato's medium-security Spring Hill Prison in May. The father-of-two suffered irreversible brain damage and later died.

Speaking from the United States, Ada Palmer slammed the New Zealand judiciary for giving her son's accused killer anonymity.

"Shhhhhh. His name is suppressed so let's not talk about it right?" she said. "I do not know his name yet [my son is dead].

"Is he getting his tea served in a timely manner? Are all his needs being met? I would not want his days to be disrupted or, God forbid, his life!"

It is understood the accused prisoner - a 21-year-old Auckland man who has since been transferred to the maximum security unit at Paremoremo - was a member of the Killer Beez gang.

"There's some kind of freaky little gang he's in named after an insect," Mrs Palmer said. "That's tragic, are you serious?"

She wanted a name to put to the case and to meet him some day.

"I don't wanna just say 'some guy in New Zealand'," Mrs Palmer said.

After the death, Corrections chief executive Barry Matthews was quoted as saying his department took the security of its staff seriously but there was always a risk given that prisons were full of violent people.

"We've had a staff safety programme to improve safety. We've increased the equipment, we've put a lot of effort into training. But there's always been that potential risk that somebody just impulsively attacks an officer."

Mrs Palmer took that to mean that an attack came with the territory. "Wish I had known that before I encouraged my son to go after the job as a Corrections officer."