Sir Kim Workman
The Waikeria Prison situation brings back painful memories of my own. Between 1990 and 1993, as operational head of prisons in the then Department of Justice, I attempted to implement a reform strategy known as He Ara Hou (A New Way).
(File image).
Photo: Unsplash / Matthew Ansley
In 2019, the government committed to Hokai Rangi a visionary strategy to transform the prison system. He Ara Hou failed and closed down at the end of 1993 - Hokai Rangi has yet to succeed. There are lessons to be learned.
There are striking similarities. Prisons have always been places of extreme violence, and when prisoners are treated in such a way that they return to the community more violent, prisons become a cause of crime. For Māori, prisons have a history which insists on repeating itself.