October 07, 2013
Iwi challenge for rehab service
Reform lobby group Rethinking Crime and Punishment says the organisations picked to run a new prisoner reintegration service will need to prove they can work with iwi and Maori communities.
Only one of the five providers contracted for the service is Maori, the National Urban Maori Authority.
Rethinking director Kim Workman says Corrections’ has in the past discouraged the development of specialist criminal justice providers, so the organisations have a background in health and social services.
He says that could work as long as they are prepared to bring in people with the necessary skills and engage with the community.
"One of the commitments that this government made was that they were going to engage more activity with community and iwi. Now if we see a health provider in the Hawkes Bay for example doesn’t have that capacity or capability to engage with iwi or Maori or with the community from which those people come, then I think we are going to have some difficulty," Mr Workman says.
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