Details Reveal Corrections Staff Sought To Prepare Addington Murderer For Crucial 2021 Parole Board Hearing
Corrections data, overdue by almost 1 year, show staff intended to prepare Joseph Brider for crucial Parole hearing & Corrections stayed with poorly-suited housing option even with no "bed date".
Having breached its obligations under the Official Information Act for at least the third time, Corrections have released more details about the work Corrections staff put into preparing soon-to-be murderer Joseph James Brider for his Parole Board hearing in October 2021.
Brider would be released into a flat owned and managed by the “reintegration” service Pathway and go on to murder his neighbour Juliana Herrera in her neighbouring flat on Grove Road in Addington.
Grove Road in Addington.
The frontage of Grove Road flats.
In June, The Wigram, (The New Zealand Reporter’s precursor,) requested information from Corrections regarding Brider. It gave an initial response to part of the request and promised to respond on 11 August 2023. A second request was made in July 2023.
On Friday 3 September 2021, Ritchie send the Christchurch Men’s Prison Matapuna Special Treatment Unit Reintegration Coordinator Jan Cook and most likely a Pathway staff member a proposed list of questions for a wide-ranging teleconference interview with Brider on Monday, 6 September 2021. The questions appear to be intended to prepare him for his upcoming Parole Board Hearing [on 10 October 2021].
It wasn’t until July 2024, almost a year later, that Corrections’ Rebecca Powell, the Deputy Chief Executive of People and Capability, responded, apologising for her department’s non-compliance and releasing crucial details about Corrections and Pathway’ staffs involvement.
This came after a previous Corrections apology in 2023 for a transgression in connection with another information request regarding the Brider case.
A Bed With Both Salisbury Street Foundation or Pathway?
After Juliana Herrera’s murder, it came to light that Corrections had turned down an offer of accommodation made by the Salisbury Street Foundation (SSF).
Brider was assessed as suitable for a bed with SSF in April. In July 2023, Corrections denied it held any communications between itself and SSF. This was not true. In July 2024 it confirmed it had received an email.
“A staff member at SSF sent an email to Corrections on 1 April 2021 with updates on multiple people who had been referred to their services. This includes one line about Mr Brider, as follows: “BRIDER Joseph…Assessed as suitable to commence day outings to SSF ASAP. Letter sent to case worker”.
On grounds of privacy, Powell refused to release the email. The letter hasn’t been released. It could not explain “why SSF did not also send written correspondence to Corrections during the period you have requested”.
Brider was taken to SSF in May 2021.
“Mr Brider had a guided release in May 2021 to the SSF. This visit was intended to be the first of several visits to check his motivation and fit for the service, however no other visit occurred due to the COVID-19 lockdown. Mr Brider completed a safety plan at the start of 2021, which had been developed during a special treatment programme.
Brider was given a psychological assessment before his June 2021 Parole Board hearing.
“A psychological report was completed ahead of Mr Brider’s June 2021 hearing. However, the Board did not request another psychological report for his October 2021 hearing. The Board sitting at his October 2021 hearing had regard to the fact Mr Brider had completed the special treatment programmes and was in receipt of a recent psychological report.”
Powell refused to release Brider’s psychological report under the Health Information Privacy Code 2020.
Nor would it release Brider’s safety plan.
“The document you have requested contains information of a highly personal nature…We acknowledge there is a high degree of public interest in the release of information about Mr Brider’s management, particularly given the severity and impact of his re-offending. We have also considered the range of other information which we have released to you, or which is already publicly available, which provides transparency about Mr Brider’s management and the circumstance surrounding his release and re-offending."“
“Upon balancing the competing interests, Corrections has determined that this document in its entirety should be withheld under section 9(2)(a) of the OIA, as the public interest in this specific information relating to Mr Brider does not outweigh our obligation to protect the privacy of individuals we manage.”
Corrections confirmed that on 6 May and 17 May 2021, there was no “Likely bed date” for Brider with the Salisbury Street Foundation.
In June, the Parole Board declined to release Brider.
“Without accommodation and other support available to him through [Provider A] his risk remains undue.” (then QC Victoria Heine quoting the Parole Board)
Heine, who penned a report into Correction’s handling of the Brider parole, noted the Panel Convener had asked Brider about [Provider A], noting Brider had confirmed “he was still keen to wait for the date so as to be released to [Provider A].
The next board hearing was set for October that year.
Heine noted in her report that by July 2021, SSF still could not give Brider a “bed date” and would advise closer to the October hearing.
Corrections began to look at other options.
In its July 2024 response letter, Powell wrote about the switch to Pathway -
“On 23 July 2021, the Reintegration Coordinator met with Mr Brider and advised him that the option of a bed at SSF had fallen through, due to the SSF not being able to confirm if a bed for him would be available before his October 2021 parole hearing.”
“During this meeting, a staff member from Pathway spoke at length with Mr Brider advising him that they would provide Mr Brider with accommodation and support in the community. Mr Brider was advised by Pathway that accommodation would be available to him for 12 months, and during his placement within their accommodation, he would be supported in finding long term, stable accommodation of his own.”
“At this time Pathway was unable to provide Mr Brider with a formal offer of bed placement, but advised one would likely become available in preparation for his October Parole Board appearance.”
As the emails show, Corrections chose to continue with Pathway even without a confirmed “bed date” and even when the Salisbury Street Foundation re-entered the picture with an offer of a bed for Brider, where he could receive further treatment. Instead he would placed in a Pathway flat on his own.
The Wigram also asked Corrections what information Pathway was made privy to regarding Brider “offending and risk of reoffending” and whether the psychological report had been provided.
Corrections responded -
“As part of the programme initiative, Pathway staff have access to all the information available to Community Corrections staff in our Integrated Offender Management System. Pathway had a number of meetings with Corrections staff who had worked with Mr Brider during his prison sentence, and was also provided: • Community and prison risk assessments • Criminal conviction history • Programme and treatment reports • Psychological assessment report information • Reports on behaviour in prison”.
During a 11 August meeting with Corrections, SSF staff “confirmed that Joseph Brider had been accepted…”
Present at the meeting was “Christina Wilson, Service Manager Intensive Services Support Team • Antonius Staps, Principal Case Manager, Christchurch Men’s Prison • Rebecca Mackle, Probation Officer, Southern Regional Accommodation Team”.
Later on, Corrections realised it had botched its communications with SSF.
“Following the meeting, Corrections staff identified they had not yet informed SSF that they were now pursuing a different accommodation option for Mr Brider, and emailed to advise that the referral to SSF was being cancelled”.
It would appear that as at 11 August 2021, Corrections had two promises of a bed for Brider but no “bed date”.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The New Zealand Reporter to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.