A convicted rapist and murderer says he'll pay the $22,000 he owes the government at $2 a week – if they let him bring his own TV into prison.

High Court Justice David Gendall has found that Richard Lyall Genge must pay the Department of Corrections and the attorney-general $22,087.21 in legal costs for challenging the lawfulness of his imprisonment based on "dubious claims".

Genge is serving a life sentence for the murder and rape of Christchurch woman Anne Maree Ellens, 22, in the grounds of Christchurch East School in 1994.

According to a pathologist, Ellens suffered a prolonged assault in which she was held by her hair and her head was bashed against concrete steps at the school. The evidence pointed to an ordeal lasting about 30 minutes.

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Genge and the co-accused, Samuel Kirner and Michael October, were sentenced in October that year.

In 2016 Genge applied to the High Court of New Zealand for $100 for every day he spent as a high-security prisoner over two months in 2013.

Justice Gendall threw the bid out in December saying there was no doubt that due process had been followed in his classification as a high-security prisoner.

Genge said he could contribute only $2 a week to the costs, but only if he could bring his own television into prison as that was the amount he paid for prison television rental. Genge said he earned $2.70 a week from the prison unemployment benefit.

Justice Gendall said this would not work as private televisions were not permitted in prisons.

In the latest judgment, released on Tuesday, Justice Gendall found Genge had lost four civil judgements in 2017 alone. This was excluding a number of unsuccessful applications for habeas corpus, which means having a judge hear his case to challenge the lawfulness of his imprisonment.

"In the present case Mr Genge's judicial review application failed in all respects. The basis for his claims was not a strong one. There were allegations of delay on his part in pursuing this claim some four years after the events in question.

"His conduct of the litigation can also be properly subjected to some criticism."

A late 2016 habeas corpus application from Genge was dismissed in January last year by Justice Gerald Nation, who said Genge's imprisonment had been found lawful "on several occasions".

Justice Gendall said he was now charging him for the costs of the latest legal bid after a string of "dubious" claims brought before the court.

"As I understand it, Mr Genge continues to bring in this court numerous judicial review and other applications. If he intends to continue on this basis to litigate a large array of dubious claims such as the present, he must also accept the jurisdiction of this and other courts to impose the usual discipline through costs orders where appropriate."

In November last year Genge told Justice Karen Clark he was worried he would die in prison because he was not getting rehabilitation.

"I was not sentenced to life with no parole."

Genge became eligible for parole in 2009 and was last before the board in September. He was declined parole and was due to be seen again in May 2018.