Prison Break: The Extraordinary Life and Crimes of New Zealand's Most Infamous Escapee

by Arthur Tay

Arthur Taylor is New Zealand's best known, most influential, and colourful career criminal. A household name, he was paroled from prison in 2019 after more than 38 years behind bars.

His life story is nothing short of remarkable. He has more than 150 convictions ranging from bank robberies to fraud, theft, escaping, and having weapons and explosives.

He has served in New Zealand's most notorious high security prison, Auckland Prison at Paremoremo, including eight months in solitary confinement. But Arthur isn't what most people might expect.

Now in his sixties and living in Dunedin, Arthur is an engaging, highly intelligent man who studied law behind bars and took on precedent-setting cases against Corrections and the Crown, cementing himself as one of the foremost authorities on prisoners' rights. He has become, perhaps, a poster child for redemption and rehabilitation. He is now an advocate for prisoners, and a bloody good storyteller.

During his time in prison, Arthur masterminded two particularly audacious prison escapes including a weeks-long caper where he and three others holed up at a millionaire's mansion.

He has shared cells with some of the country's most feared killers (readers will come across high profile inmates such as William Bell, Liam Reid, Scott Watson, Leslie Maurice Green and Graeme Burton) and is responsible for one of the country's most bizarre behind-bars weddings. His stories of prison life are entertaining, gripping; sometimes horrifying.

This book is the story of Arthur Taylor's life, and a potted history of the prison system, particularly prisoners' rights, in New Zealand, including the work put into ensuring prisoners were given the right to vote. It details Arthur's mistakes, his triumphs, and how he outsmarted prison guards - "screws" - Corrections, and other officials, time and again.

It's a warts-and-all look at prison life, and a no-apologies insight into how the prison system can change you for the better, or the worse, told in Arthur's own distinctive voice.

Genres: Nonfiction

290 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 3, 2021

Reviews

[Paul Cronin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be a must-read for anybody who cares about justice, whether they are the lock them up and throw away the key or they are people who wonder about recidivism, justice, democracy, and the rule of law. This no-holds-barred account of the notorious Arthur Taylor one of Aotearoa's notorious misfeasor, with a proclivity and appetite for offending and cocking two fingers to the justice system is a page-turner. Some of the content is very kiwi however the message is universal.
I am well acquainted with the penal system in Aotearoa-New Zealand, fortunately in terms of the criminal side as an involved participant from the other side of the fence from Arthur. I must say that I am a Facebook friend of Arthur's and in doing so I have seen Arthur for who he is and I understand him. After reading his book that understanding has become an admiration, not for his offending as Arthur candidly acknowledges the impact that has had on other people, his friends, and family, Arthur appears to regret most of it.
His story is unfortunately not unique as I have tried to help people who like Arthur have succumbed to the slippery slide. There are some very important truths that come through his story, firstly our child welfare system is broken. Beyond broken it is a major cause of offending. Secomdly the rule of law should apply to all, those who enforce the law as well as those who break the law. The third matter is that there are some very broken people in our society and rather than assist them they tend to break them even more. The fourth matter is that our Justice (penal) system is very broken, whilst there are some good people in it it really resembles an Orwellinian society depicted in Animal Farm and elements of 1984. It needs to be cleaned out and prison reform is well overdue. Our Judges are out of touch by and large and general society has no clue and really doesn't care about it until they become a participant either as an offender or a victim.
The last thing is that Arthur is a highly intelligent and caring man, as much as any reformist movement he has and still contributes to the cause of justice in a meaningful and sincere manner.
Neglect to read this book at your own risk, one thing can be sure is that we have not heard the last of Arthur and I look forward to his continuing contribution to Justice in Aotearoa, he has inspired me to continue to work where I can.
This book is a seminal tome and should be required reading for students of law for employees of the Department of Justice including all Prison wardens and probation officers as well as MPs. There is something very rotten in the state of Corrections and Justice in Aotearoa.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't finish this book. I got a decent way through it but I couldn't get into it. It felt like an opportunity for the author to have his say or vent, that he felt he couldn't through the justice system and a little on the conceited side at times. Some of the stories were interesting to read but always had a tone of the author one upping everyone else.
In saying this, his story sounds quite unfair from his childhood and despite being an intelligent man, which is evident given his successes throughout the justice system, the system really failed him and his family from a young age. At times I thought what a waste of intelligence, if only he'd had the opportunity to succeed as a child. But then, with his accomplishments, he did and has succeeded. He has made differences to many lives and made significant changes, despite his tough journey to get there. So this is commendable. His story is fascinating, I think its more the style of writing that did not have me wanting to finish the book.

[Helen Cummings · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually found this quite an enthralling read! Having recently read Gangland a lot of the same criminals were part of both accounts. It amazed me that Arthur had such a good memory for his crimes and could recount them but I suppose the ten aliases, the sixteen pages of 155 convictions and the thirty eight years in prison mean that there’s quite a large file available for him to refer to.
Two things struck me as interesting. His family seemed to condone his life of crime and Arthur minimises the effects his criminal activities had on his victims as evidenced by his interview with Kim Hill recently.

[Sally Hinkley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting and well written. However, I struggled with his approach to situations and he came across as smug at times. But having lived such a different life to his, I don't think I could ever expect to understand where he is coming from.

[George Gray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jail house lawyer - respect the bloke for sure but it just didn’t speak to me.