People Against Prisons Aotearoa spokesperson and Auckland University criminology lecturer Dr. Emmy Rākete says that prison policy led to the killing of Andrew Chan Chui last week. Chan Chui, 39, was found dead in his cell in Mount Eden Corrections Facility. His cellmate has been charged with his murder. Rākete says that MECF director Dion Paki oversaw prisoner management policies that contributed to Chan Chui’s death.

“Mount Eden Prison management knows that double bunking is dangerous,” says Dr. Rākete. “By holding two people in cells only designed for one, Corrections subjects incarcerated people to the risk of violence. Andrew is just the latest victim of double bunking, and there will be more.”

International evidence has shown double bunking to be associated with an increase in rapes and homicides. For years, William Katipa serially sexually assaulted those that Corrections double bunked him with. So did Stephen Gotty, who was convicted in 2017 for a rape he committed while double bunked in Mount Eden Corrections Facility itself.

“Mount Eden Prison management have seen firsthand that double bunking causes rape and violence. It doesn’t value incarcerated people’s lives, and it didn’t value Andrew’s life. Now Andrew is dead. Prison director Dion Paki, who allowed Andrew to be locked in that cell, must accept his share of the blame for Andrew’s death.”

People Against Prisons Aotearoa has announced it will hold a candlelight vigil with Andrew Chan Chui’s family outside of Mount Eden Corrections Facility this Saturday October 5th, at 7:30pm.

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