The expansion of an Auckland maximum security prison announced a week ago as one of the 149 projects slated for approval under the Government’s Fast Track Approval bill has been nothing but controversial.
The announcement was made just two days before the Māori Development Minister and Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka signed an iwi-led housing development scheme with one of Aotearoa’s biggest tribes.
While one project seeks to uplift Māori, the other looks to incarcerate more Māori, something criminologist Dr Emmy Rākete finds absurd.
“Māori deserve to share the wealth in society, rather than being pushed in the margins, and forced to live in poverty as we have been, this mad dash for an American-style prison regime based on mega-prisons and mass incarcerations has to be brought to a stop before more lives are lost,” Rākete says.
On Tuesday, Potaka returned to the lands of his former employer Waikaito-Tainui. There he signed with the group collective a $35 million government investment to build houses on tribal lands returned in the 1993 settlement. The deal is to help with the housing crisis, with the Waikato area sitting at the top of the list for emergency housing.
When Te Ao Māori News asked Waikato-Tainui chairman Tukoroirangi Morgan if he knew about the Auckland prison in Paremoremo being on the list to apply for a fast-track consent to expand the prison and double the number of their inmates, it was met with utter shock.
“Kei te hē tēnā. He tangata anō te tangata ahakoa kua raruraru i roto anō i ngā mahi, me tiaki tonu, he whānau anō. Ka mutu e here nei ēnei ō mātou ahakoa kei te hīnaki a te pākehā, me tiaki tonu. Kāore e tika ana ka tūkinohia“ says, Tukoroirangi Morgan.
(“That is wrong. A person is a person even if they do wrong. We need to take care of them, as they are still whānau. Plus those of ours imprisoned are due to a Pākehā system, and we must continue to care for them. It’s not right to continue the cycle,”).
Recent stats show Māori are over-represented in the prison population, representing 53% of men in prison and 67% of women.
A further breakdown of Corrections data shows the five iwi with the most descendants of prisoners sentenced and offenders on remand. At the top of the list is Ngāpuhi, followed by Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu, Tainui and then Tūhoe.
Rākete believes iwi can help fill the gap for the current prison number blowout.
This government’s ‘tough on crime’ policy will contribute to the increase in prison numbers, with experts saying the number of alleged offenders remanded in custody because they can’t find a bail address. 2023 Corrections data also suggests Māori men are nine times as likely to be on remand as non-Māori.
Rākete says, “At the same time that this government robs the poor to pay the rich, it’s dumping millions and millions of dollars into expanding the prison system.
“We know exactly what causes crime in this country, it’s very very obvious and very very simple solutions if you give people the things that they need they can live dignified safe, fully human lives,” Rākete says.
Potaka says, “He kaupapa e kōrerotia ana ka taea. Ka taea te wānanga tērā kaupapa, ka pai hoki.”
“Engari e puare ana te ngākau a Mark Mitchell, tō tātou minitā ki te whakarongo ki kōrero ki tēnā momo take.
(”It’s a topic to discuss further at length when able to. And able to wānanga to that matter, of course.”
“Our minister Mark Mitchell has a heart and is open to talking directly about that matter.)
“Me kaha tā tātou wero, ko ngā iwi ēnei, me kaha tā tātou wero ki te Karauna. Kia tiaki, ahakoa mauhere, ahakoa ko wai, pōhara, kore whare me tiaki tonu,“ Tukoroirangi Morgan says.
(“We need to challenge the status quo, us as iwi, we need challenge the Crown. We have to care, whether prisoners, no matter who it is, the poor, the homeless we have to care for them.”)
According to Rākete, projections say that the prison population in New Zealand will increase to 15,000 by 2028.
The statement below was provided to Te Ao Māori, following the aired story on Te Ao Marama:
Corrections responds to fast-track project
Alastair Turrell, DCE Infrastructure and Digital Assets says:
“Corrections submitted a proposal to amend Auckland Prison’s designation conditions to allow us to increase the maximum number of prisoners we can accommodate at the prison.
“This proposal has been included as a listed project on Schedule 2 of the Fast-track Approvals Bill. There are no immediate plans to expand Auckland Prison.
“If approval is granted to increase this designation, Corrections would still need to complete construction work to increase the level of physical fit-for-purpose bed capacity at the site. However, amending the designation now means we can respond quicker to any future increases in demand for prison capacity.
“This is part of our work to future-proof the prison network by ensuring we have sufficient prison capacity proportional to the increasing population. The project will also support the long-term resilience of our prison network. This is particularly important in Auckland, which is a region of high demand, and our only maximum-security facility.”
Te Ao Māori News also requested information on the costs and timeframes, to which Corrections responded with “Because there are no immediate plans to expand Auckland Prison, we are not able to provide information on costs or timeframes at this stage.”
Corrections responds to over-representation of Māori in prisons
Deputy chief executive Māori/tumu herenga Herewini Te Koha says:
“Corrections does not decide who is in prison and who is in the community – this is a matter for the courts and New Zealand Parole Board. The prison population fluctuates daily due to arrests, releases, prisoner movements and court decisions.
“Public safety is our top priority, and we have enough capacity to manage anyone who is remanded into Corrections’ custody. Our prison network has over 11,000 physical beds, and the Tuesday, October 8 on-site prison population is 9,853. Managing changes in demand is a daily part of our business, and we will continue to constantly review the entire prison network to ensure our staffing numbers and facilities around the country are able to meet the demands of the current prison population.
“Corrections is committed to delivering improved outcomes with and for Māori, addressing the overrepresentation of Māori in the corrections system, and reducing reoffending more broadly. To that end our organisational strategy, Hōkai Rangi, which was released in 2019, expresses our commitment to delivering better outcomes for Māori and their whanau. This strategy remains in place and we are working on the next iteration of Hōkai Rangi.
“Building meaningful and purposeful relationships with Māori providers, iwi, and hapū has been a critical part of Hōkai Rangi and remains essential to our work. Across Corrections, we have a number of partnership and service agreements with iwi, hapū and Māori providers to support the delivery of programmes and services in prisons and the community.
“Corrections provides offence-focused programmes, educational opportunities, vocational and employment training, health services, mental health and addiction programmes, cultural support services, motivational sessions, wrap-around whānau support, reintegration services, intensive residential programmes, and transitional accommodation support to people serving sentences in prison and in the community. These rehabilitation and reintegration services support people to address the causes of their offending and provide a strong foundation from which they can establish a positive future.
“It is a priority for us to ensure the programmes we deliver are responsive to the rehabilitation and reintegration needs of Māori and all other people we manage. Examples of our current initiatives are:
- special treatment units supported by kaupapa Māori practitioners who apply cultural values and content to support offence-focused interventions.
- ·residential alcohol and other drug programmes in prisons, with over 75% of the programmes being delivered by kaupapa Māori providers.
- ·Te Tirohanga, the Māori focus units. These units provide a rehabilitation pathway founded on a kaupapa Māori therapeutic environment. Up to 10 participants can enter the units on a quarterly basis where they participate in tikanga and rehabilitative courses. The unit also provides education and training opportunities within the unit and wider prison.
- the Tikanga Māori Motivational Programme, a group-based programme for both people in prison and people managed by Corrections in the community. The programme aims to motivate people to change their antisocial behaviour by helping them to connect with and draw guidance from the values, traditions and strengths of their identity as Maori. As well as creating positive changes in behaviour, the programme is designed to encourage people to engage fully with their other rehabilitation programmes.”