James Kayll was an Anglican clergyman and one of New Zealand's first criminologists and prison reformers. Kayll's appointment as a prison chaplain in Auckland led him to an interest in criminology, which he studied for seven years in Turin, Italy, and Washington D.C., United States. On his return to New Zealand he campaigned for prison reform, arguing that prisons should cure prisoners of criminal tendencies.  In 1909 Kayll was appointed visiting advisor to the Prisons Department. He advocated the establishment of prison farms and was superintendent of Waikeria reformatory for the first two years of its existence. Kayll then resigned and returned to parish work. He was briefly the mayor of Mt Eden in 1923.