Convicted double-murderer David Tamihere - who killed two Swedish tourists in 1990 - has had his first proper taste of freedom in 21 years.

Two Supreme Court judges yesterday helped to overrule a Privy Council decision which had earlier trumped their ruling when they were judges on the Court of Appeal.

Garth McVicar says the Supreme Court's decision to allow RSA massacre survivor Susan Couch to seek damages from Corrections won't open the floodgates to similar lawsuits.

Forty-three of NZ's most dangerous criminals have been convicted of serious violent offences committed while they were already on parole.

A Corrections staff member tried to hide his poor supervision of a yard where inmates tipped over a crane, and from where one later escaped.

One of NZ's most dangerous sex criminals attacked two women while on parole and under Corrections Department supervision.

A man has been arrested trying to smuggle up to 50,000 doses of the psychedelic drug lysergic acid (LSD), worth up to $2.5m, into an Auckland prison.

Privately run prisons are on the Government's agenda after Parliament today passed a bill allowing them to be handed over.

A proposal to turn patrol cars into "mobile stations" could make police more effective, top NZ lawyer says.

Police officers will be able to dispense on-the-spot punishments for minor crimes under plans to turn patrol cars into "mobile stations".

199 people were searched at a combined Department of Corrections and police checkpoint at Auckland Prison at Paremoremo on Saturday.