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Convicted
child molester Peter Ellis has been allowed to wear women's clothing and
cosmetics in jail. Sources
have told the 'Sunday Star-Times' Ellis, who is homosexual, has been given
permission to wear the clothing he wants at Paparua Prison. Criminologist
Dr Greg Newbold said it was the first time he had heard of a male inmate
being allowed to wear a dress in jail. But
it was not unusual for inmates to wear cosmetics. They were also allowed to
wear rings and jewellery, he said. Prison
authorities refused to comment but Corrections Minister Clem Simich and
Labour's spokesman on prisons, Phil Goff, both said they didn't have a
problem with male inmates wearing dresses if it didn't upset the running of
jails. Said
Simich: "Prison authorities can do anything they like. I've got no views on this matter one way or
another." Christian
Heritage Party leader Graham Capill is appalled and says something should be
done to stop the practice. It
did nothing to rehabilitate people who had been jailed for sex crimes, said
Capill. Ellis
has been allowed to wear the clothing of his choice in the new self-care
units at Paparua Prison where he is being held until his release in February.
However, he must wear prison issue clothing when he receives visitors. Ellis
is seven years into a 10-year sentence after being found guilty on 16 counts
of sexual abuse against children at the His
lawyer, Judith Ablett-Kerr QC, wants a royal commission of inquiry into the
case. Newbold
said inmates in the unit where Ellis was housed wore their own clothes
instead of standard prison issue. Prison
authorities allowed for a high degree of discretion in the units. "If he chooses to wear a dress, I
can't see why he can't" said Newbold. Newbold
said it was a common practice for transvestites in jail to dress up in lava
lavas or anything they could find to make themselves feminine. Ellis'
mother, Lesley Ellis, said she nothing of the clothing issue. |
