Northern Region Corrections Facility

Today I made my final prison visit to the Northern Region Corrections Facility, which is in the North of the country, about a three-hour drive from Auckland.  This is a new jail, which looks very similar to Spring Hill.  In the north there are more Maori tribes than in the south, and part of this prison’s ethos is to bring the men home, and to connect with their roots and their tribes.  Like in the Rimutaka Prison Maori Focus Unit, there is a real push to get prisoners to come back to their culture and to be exposed to the way that their tribe view the world. Men would request to come to this prison if they want to learn more about their Maori heritage, although, as this a local jail, there are prisoners here who do not see themselves as Maori and there are equivalent programmes for them.

Olivia took me to meet Amiria who is one of the two Chaplins in this prison, and she is the only full-time female Chaplin in a men’s prison in New Zealand.  It was fantastic to meet her. Within the jail there is a Pua, which is a multi-purpose room, and it is used for religious services as well as other programmes. Amiria has also been running a similar project to Songs From The Inside, but she has been doing it for years and it is on going. I met a prisoner who has the equivalent job of ‘Pass Man’ for the Pua, so he cleans it, and then can work on his music when he has finished. There is recording equipment in there, guitars, a drum kit and a mic.  Once they are happy with their music, they can burn them onto a CD. They also can do performances to other prisoners or friends and family. Amira is very keen on the arts, and does try and use them within her work. The role of Chaplin is slightly different in New Zealand, than it is at home. There are no social workers in the prison, so they take over some of that work now too. Amira has set some prisoners the challenge of telling their life story without words, and she said that what they produced was really amazing.

I also met Raewyn who is the Programmes Coordinator and Susan who is the Prison Visual Art Tutor.  Susan is currently preparing for an exhibition that will happen in a gallery outside the prison, for the community. Both Susan and Raewyn really believe in the importance of linking the community to the prison, as they feel that if the community is supportive it will make it easier when the prisoners are released. Also, in New Zealand, they really rely on volunteers to run programmes, therefore they need people from the local communities to volunteer or programmes won’t get run.

In the Northern Region there are close links with people from the local Maori tribe, and for prisoners who do identify themselves as Maori, they take part in a Tikanga, which is an intensive three-day course that teaches the participants the general behavior guidelines for daily life in Maori culture.  Amiria believes that this is really important, as gang culture is really prevalent, many prisoners have tried to copy the American gangster lifestyle, and it hasn’t worked, so this helps them find out more about who they are and where they are from.  After participating in the Tikanga, they may then be eligible to do an intensive course that looks directly at their crimes and their state of mind when they did it, and they have to address this directly. I think this is a little like the Violence Prevention Programme that runs in Scotland.  It is run by the same people who run the Tikanga, however, a prisoner may have to repeat the 3-day Tikanga course several times before it is felt that they are ready to participate in the next programme. This programme is thought to be the most successful in the whole country.

Within the prison, there are graduations when prisoners complete courses, and families are invited to attend. Traditionally family is very important within Maori culture, and this importance is stressed. This prison also runs the Storybook Dad project, and they offer parenting programmes, both on the inside and the outside.

This is the last entry that I will write before my report and evaluation. I realise that what I’ve written hasn’t been particularly analytical, however I did want to write down all the information that I had learnt and to have time to think about it.  I also hope that this means that others who read this can form their own opinions too.  There is no easy answer as to how to best use the arts in prisons, and what happens in a prison itself is a controversial matter, in which a lot of people have very strong opinions. This is something that interests me hugely, obviously.

It has been such an amazing experience being here and meeting such fantastic and passionate people. I have also learnt so much about Maori culture, I really knew nothing about it before coming over, but it is something that I have had to learn about, and I am so glad that I have.