May 14, 2019
Budget boost locks in prison system change
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says a $98 million Budget injection is a chance to break cycles of Māori reoffending.
The money is to create a new Māori Pathway at Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison and Northland Region Corrections Facility aimed at Māori men under 30 years of age, the group with the highest reconviction and reimprisonment rates.
Mr Davis says he had a lightbulb moment when he realised prisoners only stayed in the Māori unit at Hawkes Bay Regional Prison for 13 weeks, rather than spending all their time behind bars in a kaupapa Māori environment where they can learn and grow.
Their whānau are also cut off from the rehabilitation process, so the men can be strangers when they get out of prison.
"What we're working on is systemic change where the system has to change to meet the needs of our Māori people. We have to be more culturally inclusive, more whānau inclusive. We have to look at the hours we have lock up and lock down, but the biggest thing is we have to talk to Māori and ask them for their solutions. I've told Corrections 'you sit down with these people and you co-design these pathways.' " Mr Davis says.
It's part of delivering on its target to reduce the prison population by 30 per cent.
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