July 21, 2015
Serco rehab talk tokenistic
A former prisoner says private prison operator Serco’s profit-driven approach is a recipe for trouble inside.
The multinational company runs the new regional prison at Wiri as well as Auckland Remand Prison at Mt Eden, which is making headlines because of the existence of organised fights among prisoners.
Shane White, who served time before becoming a community worker for Te Whanau o Waipareira, says Serco understaffs its prisons, and many of its staff don’t have the cultural background to deal effectively with Maori prisoners.
He says rehabilitation programmes and Maori culture are given as rewards for good behaviour rather than being core prison business.
"There’s these lovely high level whakatauki they are putting out, even the new name for Corrections, Te Ara Poutama, the pathway to enlightenment, but at the same time it is a business. The more bums on seats, the more beds and cells for Serco, the more money they make. So even though there is all this talk about rehabilitation, it is quite tokenistic," he says.
Shane White says Serco uses petty bureaucratic tactics like not returning calls to block access by community representatives, and any community work must be done voluntarily even though it is recognised as important for reintegrating priosners when they get out.
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