Application by prisoner for judicial review of prescription decisions (to decline sleeping pills) and requirement that he pay for his own hearing aid batteries – New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, ss 9, 23(5); Corrections Act 2004, s 75; Judicial Review Procedure Act 2016, ss 4, 5 – are prescription decisions by medical practitioners amenable to judicial review? – does a reviewable error arise from Rolleston Prison’s policy regarding the provision of hearing aid batteries?

Lee v Chief Executive of Department of Corrections [2025] NZHC 2157 per Mander J

Lance Lee is a prisoner at Rolleston Prison. He wants to be provided with antipsychotics and benzodiazepines to treat his chronic insomnia. The prison doctors have declined to prescribe those medications. Lee’s insomnia has been assessed as “situational” and he has been referred to counselling and provided with information about cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia.