July 28, 2016
One sided rehabilitation set to fail
A leading Maori criminologist says prison rehabilitation doesn’t work if it ignores what is happening ion the other side of the wire.
Dr Tracey McIntosh gave evidence to the Waitangi Tribunal’s Corrections Claim hearing this week based on her research, which includes extensive work with women prisoners.
She says the solutions offered to the tribunal by Ngati Kahungunu witnesses made sense because they involve working not just with the prisoner but their whanau.
"I have seen for example times where some of the women have done a significant amount of work but when they come back out, the situation they come to is very similar to the one they left so the ability of them to draw on those learnings in a way that is mana enhancing and supportive of their journey is often really compromised," Dr McIntosh says.
The focus of reform needs to be on wider issues of social harm and stopping the criminal justice pipeline into prison.
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