August 20, 2019
Language shift shows Hōkai Rangi step to reform
An advocate for prison reform says the new Hōkai Rangi strategy shows the Government is starting to take heed of the Waitangi Tribunal report on prisons.
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says the strategy, which includes co-design with Māori and partnerships with mana whenua, is about treating the person and not just their crime.
University of Auckland Professor Tracey McIntosh, who has worked extensively with women in prison, says during the tribunal hearings there was a lot of resistance from Corrections to the issues being raised, but Hōkai Rangi marks a shift.
"You can see that those issues have been really strongly incorporated in this report and just that sort of shift not only in terms of the language and the lexicon, the recognition of the incredible damage and intergenerational damage, but also the need to respond to that in ways that strengthens whānau and strengthens communities," she says.
Professor McIntosh says because reoffending is easy to measure it has become the measure of success for Corrections, whereas other measures such as the restoration of mana could be more useful to changing people's behaviour.
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