A New Zealand repeat rapist in jail for more than 30 years has
turned a corner on his path back to society.
Michael John Carroll, who turns 61 this year, was
significantly changed from the man who had been before the Parole Board a year
ago, the board's most recent decision on him says.
He explains that as a result of graduating from the Te
Hikoitanga programme at Hawke's Bay Regional Prison and being presented with
his taiaha and mere (traditional Māori weapons). As a result, he accepts responsibility to conduct himself
as a rangatira (Māori leader), in other words, to a high standard, the board said.
"He presents as a strikingly different man from the one
that we last saw in May [2018] who was frustrated and angry with the position
he found himself in."
Carroll said he was now ready to take any opportunities offered
and do what he could to "progress" from prison, the board said.
He was one of two long-term inmates who took complaints to
the United Nations Human Rights Committee on issues including the failure to
provide timely rehabilitation and treatment to increase their chances of
release. In Carroll's case it was said that abuse in a State-run hospital as a
child had affected his ability to "engage" with treatment.
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