Hearing a young man say that he could never have imagined sitting down for kai with a bunch of 'cops and screws,' was music to Corrections Regional Māori Advisor Danny Morehu's ears.
"This guy was looking past the Police and Corrections uniforms and seeing us as people," says Danny. "It was a real breakthrough and one I won't forget."
The young man was speaking at the end of a four-day 'positive intervention' camp run by gang member tuned youth worker Edge Te Whaiti in Tongariro National Park.
Danny was a member of a group including local kaumātua, Conservation Department and Tongariro/ Rangipo Prison staff and a Police superintendent invited to work with 16 to 20-year-old high risk youth offenders referred by the Youth Courts, Police, and Child, Youth & Family.
The camp's purpose was to persuade them to turn away from a life of crime.
"Our task was to help the men understand where violence, drugs, stealing and other crimes would lead them, and the harsh realities of prison life," says Danny.
"It was a chance for them to put aside their gang affiliations, weapons, 'weed' and misconceptions about life as an adult prisoner."
For four days, the young men enjoyed a simple, safe rural existence learning how to ride horses, fish, build a lean to, cut and collect flax for bedding, make a safe campfire, cook, and clean in the outdoors.
"Some of these kids' grandparents were mobsters - the gangs were their whanau," say Danny. "They're children of crime. Spending time in D Block at Pare (Auckland Prison, formerly named Paremoremo Prison) is viewed as a rite of passage but unfortunately their families have not educated them well in the realities of prison.
"Some didn't realise that cellphones aren't allowed in prison. When we told them they could expect to earn a $6 a week incentive for working, they thought we were joking."
"I often see the same families coming through the gates at Tongariro Rangipo Prison. Brothers, cousins, fathers, uncles, sons - it's a pattern that will continue unless someone gets through to these kids. We've got to help them realise that there is a better way of life, and that following their families may not be the best way to live."
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ISSN 1178-8453