Phillip John Smith at the airport in 2014 when he fled New Zealand. Photo / Supplied
Phillip John Smith at the airport in 2014 when he fled New Zealand. Photo / Supplied
Child sex offender and murderer Phillip John Smith’s latest legal attempt to force Corrections to let him wear a necklace in jail has already cost the taxpayer about $5000.
But the figure is just a drop in the bucket of the nearly $1 million in costs incurred by Crown Law answering and appealing cases Smith has brought against Corrections while in prison.
The most costly was one surrounding Smith’s classification as a maximum security prisoner.
Smith, who is usually self-represented, has brought a slew of civil cases against Corrections, with the total cost as at July 2022 reaching $939,164.
His legal attacks on Corrections date back to 2005, when Smith challenged the lawfulness of his maximum security classification.
For eight years Smith had been seeking to have his classification lowered. The decision was finally granted in 2004, making Smith eligible to move to a different prison, closer to where his mother lived.
Phillip John Smith stands in the dock at the Auckland District Court in 2015 following his escape. Photo / Dean Purcell
His legal attacks on Corrections date back to 2005.
The first one came after his security classification was lowered, making Smith eligible to move to a different prison, closer to where his mother lived.
For eight years Smith had been seeking to have his classification lowered. But the decision was only granted in 2004.
Smith's case against Corrections challenged the lawfulness of his classification when it was higher.
But Smith brought a case against Corrections over the lawfulness of the classification and Crown Law spent more than $220,000 fighting the case, which took five years to reach its conclusion in the Supreme Court, which dismissed it.
Another pricey case related to Smith's infamous hairpiece. Corrections confiscated his toupee after he used it to disguise himself when he fled the country.
Smith argued in court the decision to take the toupee was a breach of his freedom of expression. He eventually lost the case, but Corrections still allowed him to wear the wig again.
The toupee case cost about $116,000.
Other cases included a challenge to Corrections' guidelines against temporary releases from prison for all inmates following his escape ($147,000), a battle over a strip search ($118,000), and a decision to keep Smith in a high security regime despite his classification being lower ($25,000).
The most expensive year for Smith's cases was 2017, when $215,692 was spent responding to five legal attacks, some of which spanned years.
Since he first began taking legal action against Corrections, there has not been a single year that money has not been spent battling his cases.
The latest case, which was heard in court this month, relates to Smith's request to wear a necklace in prison and have a specific type of radio in his cell.
On August 10, Smith was in the High Court at Christchurch before Justice Jonathan Eaton for a judicial review of Corrections' decision to refuse him the items.
It is understood he was not allowed the necklace for safety reasons - to protect him and other inmates from potential dangers including strangulation.
Aside from prison-issued clothing, any personal items inmates want have to be approved by the prison director through an application process.
The stereo was deemed not compliant under Corrections' operations manual.
Smith said he had been told by Corrections the stereo exceeded width limitations.
It is understood he was offered a number of other models but rejected those.
