Tauranga's first 'prison home' to open

Tommy Wilson and Bridgette Paton-Tapsell who are behind the city's new 'prison home'. Photo/Andrew Warner.

A Tauranga social work agency has today launched the city's first 'prison home' to help lower the country's record high prison rate of Māori men.

Whare 4 Freedom, which will open on September 4, is modelled on Te Tuinga Whānau which provides transitional housing and support services for homeless families.

The agency houses 55 families across 12 houses and 10 motel rooms.

Te Tuinga Whānau chief Tommy Wilson said Whare 4 Freedom was born out of a desperate need in Tauranga to have a home for inmates to live in once they left prison.

"The incarceration rate of Māori men is distressing, and they are most likely to reoffend if they don't have a base where they can start over from," he said.

Wilson said former prisoners had been knocking on Te Tuinga Whānau's doors with "nowhere to go, no networks and no one to turn to".

"We also need to protect victims by doing all we can to help ex-inmates integrate back into the community."

The Tauranga agency was transferring its 30-year knowledge of working with the most vulnerable communities into the new project, Wilson said.

"The research tells us that if you can connect people back into their whānau, iwi and communities when they have served their time, it can minimise the chances of reoffending by 50 per cent, turning former inmates on a path of rehabilitation instead of falling back into the same old cycle of offending."

The men will stay for up to six months while accessing support services to help with health, budgeting and employment.

"This framework looks at integrating former inmates back into the community and ultimately giving them a feeling of belongingness," Wilson said.

"The whare will only house four men and will not accept any offender against children. We only welcome men who are committed to change and agree to fully engage in the programme."