By Joanne Naish of 
Phillip John Smith has lost court proceedings against the director of Rolleston Prison. Photo: Ross Giblin / Stuff
Convicted killer and child sex offender Phillip John Smith has lost a High Court bid to allow prisoners to have sex at Rolleston Prison's treatment units for child sex offenders.
Smith was jailed for life in 1996 for murdering a man in Johnsonville, Wellington, in December 1995. He had been sexually abusing the man's son and tracked the family down after they left Wairarapa to get away from him.
He filed a High Court proceeding against the prison director at Rolleston Prison, near Christchurch, for its rule prohibiting sexual activity between male prisoners, alleging it was discrimination against homosexuality.
In his decision, Justice Gerald Nation said he was satisfied the rule was lawful and it protected prisoners from harm and helped reduce reoffending.
In 2013, Smith obtained a passport in his birth name of Phillip John Traynor and, while on temporary release from Spring Hill Corrections Facility in November 2014, travelled to Chile and Brazil on the passport. He was arrested and deported later the same month.
Back in New Zealand he was convicted of escaping and obtaining a passport by false pretences.
He previously lost an appeal against his convictions and also lost a bid to be allowed to wear a hairpiece in prison.
In his latest High Court proceeding he claimed the rule against male child sex offenders having sex with each other was unlawful. Anyone caught breaching the rule could be sent to solitary confinement, which he also was argued was unfair.
He claimed the ban on male prisoners having sex with each other was in breach of the Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986, arguing the rule caused unintended safety risks including prisoners having unprotected sex and secretive behaviour.
He submitted that the rule should be replaced with one requiring prisoners to disclose sexual activity in the units so Corrections could ensure the relationships were consensual.
A psychological services manager at the two units for child sex offenders told the court that any sexual related behaviour between residents was viewed as problematic and the prison had a duty of care to the large number of the men in one of the units who had intellectual disabilities and were vulnerable.
The unit's aim was to teach prisoners how to control sexual urges, she said.
The prison director said the rule was introduced in 2017 after some relationships within the unit ended in less than amicable circumstances.
Justice Nation said he did not accept that prisoners had a right and freedom to participate in consensual sexual activity.
The units were successful in significantly reducing rates of sexual recidivism and the prison management were entitled to impose rules.
He declined Smith's application for a judicial review and said the prison was entitled to costs.
- This story originally appeared on the Stuff website
