God gave Noah the rainbow sign/ No more water, the fire next time*
It seems to be another case of six of one and half a dozen of the other.
How much to believe of what Corrections and the Waiteria Prison staff have said on the five-day "riot" that has just ended, and how much of what the 16 "rioters" and prisoner families said.
We should be able look to the media for information. Unfortunately, they dealt only with the "incident" with the flimsiest of backgrounds. They mentioned the Hokai Rangi strategy but leave readers wondering what it is? They did not mention the Chief Ombudsman's earlier report on Paremoremo prison which reported double bunking and problems with clothing and bedding, and yet this is relevant. Damn it, they didn't even tell us where Waiteria is! The need for well trained investigative reporters and journalists is greater than ever.
Left in the void, who should we listen to?
Hopefully, not the so-called Sensible Sentencing Trust who, predictably, want the rioters "punished with the full force of the law." We can guess the demographics and political orientation of their membership.
And we'll be cautious about the two National party MPs who went to Waiteria—other than their demand that Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis should have been there, which I think had merit. His statement that he would not intervene until the situation was resolved was even weaken than Jacinda not visiting Ihumatao. Leaders lead from the front. They help the resolution.
Amnesty International has to be listened to —but with some caution. Their good intentions sometimes outstrip their information. AI expressed "deep concern" at the situation, calling for an "end to the dehumanising practices" and an enquiry into the state of our prison system. They wrote of the need for clean water, hygienic eating facilities, the lack of toilet paper, clean clothes and linen.
JustSpeak, a criminal justice NGO, also thought the rioters had some cause. Perhaps they could widen their services to provide volunteers to help change the prison model from "containment and management" to "rehabilitation and re-integration", as recommended in Chief Ombudsman's report. This could include help with trade training, driving tests, reading and writing. Corrections staff are clearly overloaded.
The Maori Council is another voice to heed, if only because of the ethnicity of the rioters. It thought force to end the riot would be counter-productive; politicians should stand back and let mana whenua work with Corrections to end the riot. In the end, the rioters "surrendered" in the presence of Maori Party MP Rawiri Waititi.
Looking to the future, acknowledgement should be given to Corrections which is obviously serious about reducing the Maori presence in prisons to approximate that of their share of NZ's population. (See Hokai Rangi, click here). A major problem is clearly the shortage of staff, and trained staff in particular.
Corrections is at the bottom of the cliff, catching offenders after they have been dealt with by the police and the courts, and before that by their socialising and the education system. I doubt a solution to Maori over-offending will be found until the problem is addressed at all of these levels.
Peter Bosier is the Chief Ombudsman. I shall write about his Paremoremo report in a later posting.
-- ACW
* See James Baldwin
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