HAYES: "Okay Patrick, what has Corrections had to say?"
Well not a lot actually.
They dodged questions from Newshub all day.
And it was actually the Prime Minister's office that stepped in later on...
And confirmed the letter was real.
Since then, Corrections have said that Brenton Tarrant has rights and obligations...
Under international law and domestic law...
To send and receive mail.
Some of his mail has been stopped, Corrections says...
But not this letter.
And Corrections says it should've been.
Now the Minister, Kelvin Davis, says he is angry at his department...
For letting this letter get out.
It is very important here that viewers see this put in context.
There is a fear in nearly country in the Western world of a copycat attack...
From supporters of the alleged gunman.
Somehow a message has been allowed to get out of a New Zealand prison...
And it has potential to inspire them.
That is a big concern for global security around the world...
And has the potential to be internationally embarrassing for New Zealand.
HAYES: "Patrick, what can you tell us about the tactics of the people on the chat rooms?"
Yes, we have been investigating 8Chan for months now here at Newshub.
And I can tell you that for months, we have been watching correspondence on there...
Such as this...
Among supporters of the alleged gunman...
That say things like 'bombard the prison with calls and letters'.
'Bombard the prison with calls and letters.'
They have a tactic of trying to get through to Brenton Tarrant.
They also say things like 'they are going to be filtering as much as they can'...
'So a wide range of different letters will make it more likely that something will get through.'
In this case it turns out that their tactics worked.
