Prisoners are called by their first name and there are beanbags instead of tables in the visitors’ room. There’s a change in the air at Waikeria Prison, with the feeling that a switch has been turned on the way the Department of Corrections facility is traditionally run. Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Prison Reform’
Govt repeal 3 strikes law part of overhaul of criminal justice system
Thursday, May 31st, 2018The three strikes law will be repealed in two weeks, Newshub can reveal – and Justice Minister will also push for sentences shorter than two years to be served as home detention. This comes after Newshub Nation obtained a dossier of documents that gives the biggest insight yet into radical plans to overhaul the justice Read more
Decisive action needed to reduce rate of imprisonment – Peter Dunne
Monday, May 28th, 2018
A former member of parliament and cabinet minister is asking whether any Government has the moral fortitude to do anything serious about reducing our growing rate of imprisonment. Peter Dunne says that for at least the last 30 years it has been virtually impossible to have a rational political debate about law and order. And he says that, Read more
Pope calls for abolition of life imprisonment
Tuesday, October 28th, 2014
Pope Francis has called for the abolition of life imprisonment, saying that it is another, hidden, form of the death penalty. At a meeting with representatives of the International Association of Penal Law last week, the Pope denounced what he called “penal populism”. This promises to solve society’s problems by punishing crime instead of pursuing Read more
Bishop Duckworth has ‘deep social conscience’
Friday, October 25th, 2013
Rosemary McLeod referred to Bishop Justin Duckworth’s week in a monastic cell in front of Saint Paul’s Cathedral as a “performance piece” (Opinion, October 17). Justice Minister Judith Collins implied it was ridiculous and suggested this “sort of display” is “why people are leaving the Anglican Church”. Perhaps the symbol of a fenced in cell is Read more
Bishop Duckworth begins vigil for prison reform
Tuesday, October 15th, 2013
On Sunday Justin Duckworth, The Anglican Bishop of Wellington begun a week-long vigil in a small cabin to draw attention to penal reform. This week, the Anglican Church is focusing on prisoner rehabilitation and how to stop reoffending with alternatives other than prison. Bishop Justin preached at the 10am service in the Cathedral on Sunday Read more
Prisons moral and fiscal failure – English
Friday, September 2nd, 2011
It takes political courage to contradict the prevailing nostrums of the day, and National’s deputy prime minister and Finance Minister, Bill English, is to be commended for doing just this. Opening a Families Commission’s 50 Key Thinkers forum in May, Mr English referred to prisons as a moral and fiscal failure. In so doing he Read more