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Warning: This article discusses suicide.
A coroner is calling for urgent psychological support for prisoners before and after their release, following the death of a man who served almost 30 years of a life sentence for murder.
Lee Rawiri Kohiti was sentenced in 1996 for the murder of his cousin. He was released on parole in May 2025.
Two months later, Kohiti was found dead at the Hamilton parole address he had been living at.
He was 19 when he entered prison.
According to the coroner, on his release at 49 years old, he wasn't visited by friends or family and he expressed a desire to return to the prison environment.
"His closest support had been h
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