[ad_1]
The Race Relations Commissioner has caught the Government off guard after coming up with the idea that prisons should be run for the first time, with a specific focus on Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison.
Although the idea is in the conversation stage, Meng Foon said RNZ he had been in talks with iwi and was in the process of coordinating meetings with the Department of Corrections.
Foon said that the current prison system was not working for Maori and that a more community-based approach was needed.
READ MORE:
* Self-determination, not dependence on the government, is the way for the Maori.
* Is it time to declare a reservation on Aotearoa NZ?
* Ngapuhi Elder Surprised by ‘Medieval’ Conditions in Ngawha Prison
* Iwi leader praises the new Maori prison plan, but says a broader problem of racism needs to be addressed
* Created $ 98 million Maori pathway to break recidivism cycle in Northland, Hawke’s Bay prisons
“I really encourage the government to trust iwi to run the prisons. We have to trust the solutions to the Maori, and they have solutions, ”Foon said.
“They have great ability, ability and the Maori have said that what is good for iwi is really good for New Zealand.”
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis said in a statement that Foon had not approached him with the idea.
“The government does not support the establishment of private prisons in New Zealand, no matter who the private operator is, yet the overrepresentation of Maori in our prison system has been a focus for the government in the Corrections portfolio, and we have done some important work to address this, ”Davis said.
Tom Lee / Stuff
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis said the Race Relations Commissioner had not approached him about the idea of iwi-run prisons.
“We made changes to the way Corrections operates by introducing Span of heaven, the new prison strategy that aims to treat prisoners with respect and maintain their mana and ultimately aims to reduce the proportion of Maori in prisons.
In last year’s budget, the government announced $ 98 million for the creation of Māori Pathways in Hawke’s Bay and Northland Region prisons.
Topia Rameka, Maori Deputy Director of the Department of Corrections, said that the over-representation of Maori in the prison system and in the wider judicial system remains something that Corrections is committed to changing.
“We are working hard with our partners and suppliers of iwi and Maori to prevent Maori from entering the prison system and reduce the risk of recidivism once they have served their sentence, but we know there is a lot of work to do. . “
Davis said the government had made “excellent progress” in reducing the prison population, which had recently fallen below 9,000 for the first time since 2015.
Ngāti Kahungunu President Ngahiwi Tomoana had also not spoken to the commissioner, but applauded the idea of iwi-run prisons.
ROSS GIBLIN / THINGS
Convicted murderer and former prisoner Dr. Paul Wood returns to prison to tell those inside that they can, like him, change their lives.
“[Foon] has infinite knowledge of the community and the prison system. He has based his kōrero in his own intelligence and also in his own intuition about how to do something about it, ”said Tomoana.
“It’s very ambitious, but it’s also very ambitious because we’ve been saying this for a long time, but for someone so important to say it it’s quite remarkable, and we support it 100%,” Tomoana said.
In regards to the Māori Pathways program, Tomoana said that “in terms of needs, he was a pedestrian.”
“You are on the right track, but [it’s too] pedestrian, and we have many resources under pressure.
“The local Hapū in Mangaroa have been preparing for years to be able to enter the system and produce Hapū and iwi to kaupapa services that would not only accelerate learning within prisons, but also accelerate integration outside of prisons.”
Stuff
Ngati Kahunguna President Ngahiwi Tomoana said he fully supports the idea of iwi-run prisons.
Another ambition involved in running the prison was to accelerate the exit of Maori to well-skilled jobs.
“Currently in Otago Prison iwi is running virtual reality training programs for numeracy and literacy and it has proven to be 99% successful, and if we could run them in our prisons, together with our private sector partners, we would accelerate integration. of people with their whanau “.
“Maori are six times more likely to be arrested, six times more likely to be incarcerated and six times more likely to receive a longer sentence.”
Tomoana said that Ngāti Kahungunu would be in contact with the commissioner early next week to promote discussions about an iwi-run prison.
“There also needs to be more collaboration between the police and the courts, because everyone thinks it is a correctional problem, but in reality it is not.
“It is a whole branch of the judicial system that is disjointed, and they do not speak to each other, so the corrections end with the result of two, in my opinion, frustrated processes that are duplicated by Maori criminals.”
