May 11, 2015
Technology is going to prison
Technology is going to prison
WILLIE JACKSON
21st century technology is going to prison, thanks to the lateral thinking of Corrections Minister Sam Lotui’iga and Serco Prisons. Cell phones and computers are being used to re-educate and re-engage our prisoners. A lot of these men and women are Maori. Most of them dropped out of school, and onto the streets and into a life of crime. What Lotui’iga is doing is getting them up skilled educationally, work-wise to re-enter the real world better equipped, independent and hopefully better citizens.
Which is exactly why Manukau Urban Maori Authority (MUMA) champions this Government’s creative approaches to working with Maori. MUMA has an ‘Out of Gate’ programme that picks up short term prisoners upon their release. We house some of these clients ourselves and work with them all towards their independence. They get basic budgeting advice and we assist them into employment even self-employment. Something different needs to be done to reduce recidivism.
What MUMA is also working on with the Police and Ministry of Justice are new ways of doing things with offenders who might otherwise find themselves in jail. Far too many young people end up in jail for not paying their traffic or speeding fines. As well as that we have young ones ending up inside for the most ridiculous of things. Whilst shop lifting for example is not something I support I definitely don’t support someone spending three months in jail because they were guilty of it.
That’s why when the Ministry of Justice and Police came up with the idea of Marae Community Justice Panels where offenders are judged by kaumatua, police and some of our community experts we at MUMA jumped at the opportunity to roll this out. Now your critics, who are the same critics who don’t want to give prisoners phones and computers, and would rather see them tortured every day, have said it can’t work. However, it has been nothing but a resounding success so far and the reason for that is because it’s something different in terms of addressing crime. Nothing is more intimidating for some of these offenders than having to face their local kaumatua.
The initiative from Lotui’iga is based on the same principle as Marae Justice, we need different ideas to address crime today and with every second prisoner in jail being Maori I will support anything that might help to address this crisis. So I say “Go for it Sam Lotui’iga” ignore the critics who will never go away and roll that new technology into the prisons.
Tune into Paakiwaha with Willie Jackson. Current affairs from a Maori perspective. Mondays on Radio Waatea
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