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The prison unit housing New Zealand’s most notorious and dangerous criminals, including mosque terrorist Brenton Tarrant, is getting a fresh paint job with colourful designs and shapes in a bid to lift its “oppressive” surroundings.

The Prisoners of Extreme Risk Unit (Peru) was established at Auckland Prison – also known as Paremoremo – in 2019, four months after the March 15 terror attack.

At the end of 2024, it housed 13 of the country’s most violent and dangerous inmates, including Tarrant, who murdered 51 worshippers and injured 40 others at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques in Christchurch.

In a report released in December, Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier outlined concerns about human rights abuses, saying there was compelling evidence of “prolonged solitary confinement in oppressive conditions” of all in custody in the Peru.

“I consider the cumulative human impact of the conditions and treatment of the people in custody in the Peru to be cruel, inhuman, and degrading,” Boshier said.

Images from inside the Prisoners of Extreme Risk Unit (Peru) in Auckland Prison during a 2023 inspection. Photo / Office of the Inspectorate

The Department of Corrections’ commissioner of custodial services, Leigh Marsh, told the Herald maintenance work was now being done in the 18-cell unit to address feedback from the Ombudsman and Office of the Inspectorate reports, and “create an environment that’s less stark and therefore more conducive to rehabilitating prisoners and better for our staff”.

The work includes repainting the unit’s visiting booths, entrance foyer, dayrooms, yards and cells for the first time since it was built in 2018.

Corrections would not comment when asked about the cost of the project, but said the work was being funded from within its existing baselines as part of Budget 2025.

The Herald understands Corrections has hired a commercial painting company to carry out the project – which involves inmates’ cells being painted green and a wall in their adjoining individual yards being painted with a colourful “geometric design”.

Corrections says each of the 18 cells' adjoining individual yards will be painted with the same geometric design. Photo / Department of Corrections

Images provided to the Herald show an abstract landscape painted on a wall in the yard, where they are allowed to exercise for between three and six hours daily.

“Stark environments can create barriers to prisoners engaging constructively with staff and in pro-social activities, which is why the work includes some walls having slighter brighter colours and small geometric designs and shapes such as triangles. There are no murals on the cell walls, but there is a basic painted design in the exercise yard attached,” Marsh said.

“Creating brighter spaces and painting artwork within prisons, especially in areas frequently used by staff, visitors and prisoners, is common and something Corrections has done for many years in prisons.

Inmates' cells have been painted green in a bid to lift their "oppressive" surroundings. Photo / Department of Corrections

“This work is typically carried out by prisoners to keep them engaged in constructive activities and help their rehabilitation. However, in this case, the security classification of the prisoners within the unit means it is not possible for them to carry out this work.”

Inmates have been temporarily relocated to an empty cell within the same unit while their rooms have been painted.

“The safety and security of our prisons is our top priority, and prison environments can impact prisoners’ willingness to take part in rehabilitation, and the levels of tension and aggression towards frontline staff and other prisoners,” Marsh said.

“Some prisoners in this unit will spend multiple years serving sentences in highly restrictive regimes while still needing to take part in programmes and activities that will support their rehabilitation and reintegration when they are eventually released.”

The Herald approached Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell’s office for comment, but was referred to the Department of Corrections as it is an “operational” matter.

‘Incredibly austere environment’, convicted killer says

Convicted killer turned motivational speaker Dr Paul Wood spent almost a year locked up in Paremoremo, which he told the Herald was “without question” New Zealand’s toughest prison.

“It’s an incredibly austere environment. I do definitely think that is not good for mental health, resilience, ability to cope, any of those things,” Wood said.

He was housed in the prison’s maximum security unit after pleading guilty to killing his drug dealer at the age of 18. The man attempted to sexually assault Wood before the teenager bludgeoned him to death with a baseball bat.

Convicted killer turned motivational speaker Dr Paul Wood.

“I think the paint and the mural creates greater visual diversity and different engagement, and there is research around this in terms of the impact on mood and behaviour.

“However, I would consider this stuff to be very much nice to do rather than some of the key things which are still massively underfunded in the system ... It does have an impact [but] the biggest impact would be having more resources within Corrections devoted to rehabilitative programmes.”

Wood said those who come from a normal, visually rich environment, like most people in New Zealand, would find it hard to grasp an understanding of what it’s like inhabiting a truly austere environment.

“I think it’s important that we sort of suspend our judgments on the impact that might have on us relative to someone who’s actually been long-term deprived of any kind of visual variety or stimulation.”

He recalled that when he was first released from prison, he was overwhelmed when walking down a supermarket confectionery aisle because the colours were in contrast to the prison environment.