Behind bars

Looking behind the cell bars of the average New Zealand prison is a depressing picture. In New Zealand’s prison cells are over 8000 Kiwis, mostly young men between the ages of twenty and forty. Because they are in prison, they cannot give their children vital support and parenting presence. Nor can they add to the productive future growth of our country. 

New Zealand is ranked seventh out of thirty OECD in its rate of imprisonment. Sadly, a disproportionate number of people in prison cells in New Zealand are Māori. 

Something desperately needs to happen to change this reality. 

The justice sector in New Zealand is a massive beast that includes the Ministry of Justice, the Courts, Police, the Department of Corrections, the Attorney-General and the Serious Fraud Office. As a nation, we spend approximately $4 billion a year on the justice sector. It is estimated that the annual financial cost of crime in New Zealand is over $9 billion. Additionally, it costs over $80,000 per prisoner to keep them in prison.

In stark contrast, our Government spends only $64.6 million a year on rehabilitation and reintegration services for these prisoners. This will apparently increase to about $137 million according to the latest Budget. As of June 2011, there were 8,582 people incarcerated in New Zealand. Even with the proposed new spending, rehabilitation and reintegration will come to $15,964 per prisoner. This figure pales in comparison to the average cost of housing a prisoner and the overall spend by our Government on the justice sector.

For Māori, who make up over half of our prison population, the picture is even more sombre. For instance, there is clear evidence that Māori are severely over-represented throughout the justice process—from arrests through to imprisonment. Respected thinkers such as Justice Eddie Durie have begun to look at whether or not there is an inherent bias in the justice system against Māori, and also at the drivers of crime (eg, income equality, whānau breakdown) as contributors to Māori imprisonment.

It is unlikely that politicians will discuss these issues at length in the upcoming election debates. If they do, there will probably be talk about increases in the spending on justice, or maybe media sound-bites about the need to create a more cost, resource and time-efficient justice sector during these tough financial times.

Questions to think about before you vote:

• Where should the focus of the justice sector be: rehabilitation or imprisonment? Or both?
• What are the political parties actually saying about the different justice issues in our country?
• Should there be cultural input and knowledge influencing the policies that the various arms of the justice sector are developing? How can Māori be more fairly represented throughout this justice process?

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