An asthmatic woman is repeatedly pepper sprayed and has to show her used sanitary products to male guards, while her seriously depressed girlfriend is left in isolation until she attempts suicide, reports Guyon Espiner.
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Warning: This story discusses violence, rape, depression and suicide.
Auckland Women s Prison treated inmates in a degrading, cruel and inhumane manner in a concerted effort to break their spirit, according to a stinging ruling from a district court judge.
Mihi Bassett was gassed in her cell, Manukau District Court Judge David McNaughton said.
Photo: RNZ/Vinay Ranchhod
Corrections broke its own rules and regulations multiple times in its treatment of Mihi Bassett and Karma Cripps, who were gassed in their cells and forced to perform a humiliating ritual to be fed, Manukau District Court Judge David McNaughton says.
His ruling also confirms the women had to remove their underwear in front of male guards in order to get clean pairs and were, at times, denied toiletries and sanitary products