August 04, 2015
Prison reformer agrees with US lawyer on mistreatment of Maori
An Auckland woman whose father is in prison says she can identify with a US lawyer who says the treatment of Maori in New Zealand is as bad as the treatment of blacks in his own country.
Sina Brown Davis who was at a demonstration outside Mt Eden Prison at the weekend says those who warned against the privatisation of prisons such as Mt Eden put in the hands of Serco now feel vindicated by the Government needing to step in and take back control.
" At the end of the day I don't believe this is the future our tupuna dreamed for us. It's not what they had in mind for us to continue being a fodder of an oppressive state and an oppressive system" she says.
Sina Brown Davis says Bill Murphy, who was invited to New Zealand by the Bar Association represented Freddie Grey whose recent death in a Baltimore prison lead to riots in a number of states, spoke of the way Black Americans were being mistreated including being targetted by drug laws.
She says New Zealand is going down the same path as the US and she feels Maori are increasingly suffering in the same way.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH SINA BROWN DAVIS CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=MzEwODE=
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