August 31, 2015
Are Corrections racist?
Are Corrections racist?
MARTYN BRADBURY
Tom Hemopo, a retired probations officer has launched a claim with the Waitangi Tribunal claiming the crown have failed to reduce the number of Maori in our prisons.
On the face of it, Tom has a lot of evidence.
50% of men in prison are Maori and 63% of women in prison are Maori despite them only being 14.9% of the population. That is a staggering over-representation and one that demands a response.
So what was Corrections response?
In 2013 Corrections allowed its Maori Strategic Plan to lapse without any consultation with Maori.
That doesn't sound like a particularly good response to such a terrible over-representation does it?
With the creation of private prisons, and a Government Department like ACC being a 30% shareholder in that private prison, the profit motive has warped any other priority.
ACC want a return on their investment into Serco. Serco make their money by filling their prisons. Government reduces its costs in public prisons by moving every prisoner they can into the 960 beds at Wiri. The concept of reducing Maori in prison isn't part of this vision at all, they are seen as simply the revenue stream.
It is a horrifying realisation to see Maori reduced into fuel to feed a private prison complex.
Martyn Bradbury
Editor – TheDailyBlog.co.nz
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