[4] A psychological report written shortly after he arrived at Epuni said: "He appears as basically warm-hearted, good-natured, co-operative and easy going, with a tendency to be impulsive at times.
He committed burglaries and car conversion in the course of running away from Epuni, although his first conviction was for forging entries in his savings bank deposit book at the age of 16.
[4] In 2015, while still in prison, Taylor received financial compensation and a letter of apology from the Ministry of Social Development for his incarceration and treatment at Epuni.
[6] In 1998, he and three others, including murderer Graeme Burton, escaped from Auckland Prison by scaling the walls at Paremoremo, snipping through the wire at the top and getting away in a waiting Toyota Hiace.
He was assisted by Manu Royal who pointed an air pistol at the two prison officers escorting him and told them to unlock Taylor's handcuffs.
[8] Taylor was recaptured after he fell through the ceiling in a downtown Wellington building and landed on top of a startled woman in a toilet cubicle.
[9] A girl was born to Carolyn Taylor, Arthur's wife, in June 2007, while she was serving time at Auckland Region Women's Correctional Facility.
In 2010, a NZ Herald article reported that a Child, Youth and Family spokeswoman had said that Taylor was recognised by the agency as the father of a girl born in 2007 because he was named on the birth certificate by his wife.
[3] In the early 1980s, Taylor began representing himself in court to seek reductions in his sentences, get convictions quashed, or get his security classification downgraded.
In a subsequent investigation into Taylor's treatment by Corrections, the Ombudsman described his conditions during that period as “cruel and inhumane for the purposes of the UN Convention Against Torture”.
[15] Sociologist Dr Greg Newbold says Taylor is "bloody intelligent" and craves the intellectual stimulation he gets from taking legal action against Corrections.
However, Justice Ellis described the voting ban as "constitutionally objectionable" and the Court agreed with the Attorney General that the new law was inconsistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.
[1] The Attorney-General appealed this decision arguing that the courts did not have jurisdiction to declare a law passed by parliament to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights.
[24] In 2013, following his legal action against the smoking ban, TVNZ and other media outlets requested permission from the Corrections Department to interview Taylor in prison.
Taylor was represented in court by lawyer Murray Gibson, who said the verdict called into question everything about Mr Tamihere's conviction.
[29] Witness C's permanent name suppression was revoked on 26 April 2018, and he was revealed as convicted double murderer Roberto Conchie Harris.
[31] As part of his segregation regime, Corrections placed Taylor into the High Care Unit (HCU) reserved for difficult prisoners.
Prison management argued that because staff provided him with an office for his numerous legal issues, Taylor presented a "significant ongoing threat to the security and good order of this institution.” The Ombudsman, Beverley Wakem, said prison management "did not provide any information which showed the risk remained (beyond the original 14 days) and as such, an extension was required".
[32] The Ombudsman also wrote: "The placement of Mr Taylor into the HCU, along with the restrictions imposed by the management plan… was more akin to a punishment regime"[33] and that “Accommodation for those prisoners currently undergoing a period of segregation is well below standard and could be considered cruel and inhuman for the purposes of the Convention against Torture.”[34] In 2022 Taylor sued Corrections for NZ$1.45 million for wide-ranging claims spanning events from June 2011 until March 2018.
He alleged serious mistreatment, designed to disrupt his legal work against Corrections and to prevent him assisting other prisoners to assert their basic rights.
[38] In early June 2020, Taylor was recalled to prison after defying an order banning him from associating with a woman in Wellington.
[46][44] Taylor has written an autobiography called Prison Break: The Extraordinary Life and Crimes of New Zealand's Most Infamous Escapee, which is published by Allen & Unwin and due to be released on 3 August 2021.
On 11 June, Associate Judge Kenneth Johnston ruled that Taylor had the court's permission to use seven quotes from the doctor's evidence in his book.