Editorial: More commitment needed to turn round Maori prison rates

Mark Dawson, Editor of Wanganui Chronicle

The news - reported on the front page of the Chronicle two weeks ago - that Maori rates of imprisonment had reached record levels in the region illicited some predictable race-based finger-pointing, but not much else.

Not nearly enough outrage; not nearly enough concern; not nearly enough ideas for how to turn this alarming downhill slide around.

The issue has been brought home again this week with the release of a Waitangi Tribunal report on Maori and their over-representation in prisons.

In particular, the report looked at re-offending of inmates which, at around 80 per cent, is unacceptably high and, perhaps more pertinently, the impact of this amount of incarceration on children.

It estimated that 10,000 Maori children were at some time affected by having a parent in prison. That is a scary figure.

The generational flow-on and repetitive cycle of criminality hardly need spelling out. As most parents quickly learn - children do what you do; not what you say.

Of course, not all kids follow in their parent's footsteps but statistics show that enough will also end up behind bars for this to be an issue for Maori and non-Maori.

The proposed squeeze on gang membership is not going to cut it, and the tribunal report needs to be looked at seriously by government.

Fortunately, there are growing signs that politicians are stepping off the punishment path and looking for more sustainable solutions. "Lock 'em up and throw away the key" might have been a vote winner once upon a time, but surely not now.

The ACT Party has come up with a policy for rewarding self-improvement among prisoners, while the Corrections Department is busy doing deals with businesses to offer inmates jobs on release from prison.

Small steps but if we get enough of them, we may just get the momentum to turn things around.