Shane White had just turned 17 when he was sent to prison for life.
Now 43 years of age Shane is determined not to go back inside. It’s not that he fears jail itself, but he now understands all those things he has missed out on, and that drives him to take the straight road.
“Now I have kids I couldn’t imagine putting myself in a place where I couldn’t see them, couldn’t make them breakfast. It would break me.”
Today Shane manages a health provider service-based at Hoani Waititi Marae in Auckland. He assists families to work through any issues inhibiting them from being a whānau. At any given time there could be up to 30 families on the ‘books’ – and there is only Shane to carry out this mahi.
Shane has previously assisted Police to deliver anti-P messages, and now runs training courses for them, and also with interested gang members. He is all too familiar with the extreme damage this does to individuals, families and communities.
Shane has immersed himself in things Māori and believes this to be his guiding strength. It started when he joined the kapahaka in Pare. Since being out, he has given up his spare time to the arts, learning and teaching taiaha and being heavily involved in kapahaka in the community. He also regularly visits marae around the country and takes a lead role on his own marae and helps out behind the scenes.
“Even my spare time was Māori. Sweet! It’s very hard to go off track when you’re in that world.”
But it wasn’t always sweet for Shane who readily admits he did some really dumb things when he first got out.
“In the beginning things were tricky. I never had a grip on how to handle freedom. I was running around like a little puppy, feeling, smelling, touching things.
“I had to work out in my head, that no matter what I did, I was never gonna get those 10 years back. That’s the danger of coming out of jail after all that time, that you think you have to make up for lost time.”
The other struggle Shane faced was not being up with modern technology like computers and eftpos. “Feeling dumb was very damaging for my confidence.”
And Shane is forever conscious that he is on parole for the rest of his life, a constant reminder that if he steps over the mark between right and wrong, he’s gone.
Shane feels a deep sense of accomplishment that he has at last regained his turangawaewae and after 20 odd years he is still ‘on the outside’.
“Life is full of temptations and challenges, as it is I guess for most people – not just me. But I intend staying true to the kaupapa – staying crime free, helping my people, loving my kids and whānau, keeping my hands full of good stuff.”
Kia kaha tonu koe e Shane.
We would love to hear your views about Ahurewa - tell us about something you read, or what you would like to see in the next issues.
Email ahurewa@corrections.govt.nz.
We are keen to hear from you.
ISSN 1179-3104