Minister of Corrections Hon Phil Goff's announcement that Mount Eden Prison will undergo a major rebuild and refurbishment has been widely welcomed.
While people from all walks of life and political persuasion know how run down the current facility is, many also appreciate that today's emphasis on rehabilitation of prisoners requires a very different facility to the one that was built 120 years ago.
In this issue's story about the Mt Eden project, the artist's impressions of what the facility will look like in 2011 illustrates how the old and new will co-exist comfortably.
The news that the oldest part of the current prison may be opened to the public signals New Zealanders' growing curiosity about their country's prison history.
As crime continues to grow, people are taking a genuine interest in the way we house prisoners, the rehabilitation programmes we provide and the effort that goes into reintegrating offenders back to the community. As I see it, looking at the past to help us understand the present, is part of that process.
Equally important is the need to look to the future. The Department does this through its Strategic Business Plans and the 2008-2013 plan, released this month, sets out clearly what our vision and priorities will be for the next five years.
It is based on what we have learnt and achieved during the past few years when we experienced large scale, very challenging growth and change.
Māori continue to make up a disproportionately large section of the offender population so it is imperative that we find ways to do better for Māori offenders and communities. Strong partnerships are the key to reducing Māori re-offending.
The Strategic Business Plan states very clearly that to succeed overall, we must succeed for Māori offenders.
The Strategic Business Plan is also an important step in "lifting our game" - maintaining and improving further what we do well and mapping out better ways and new directions to achieve our outcomes.
Our performance drives the public's trust and confidence in our organisation so we take it extremely seriously.
I want to leave you with our Vision Statement (below), our priorities and an invitation to read the Department's Strategic Business Plan.
Vision
Improving public safety by ensuring sentence compliance and reducing re-offending, through capable staff and effective partnerships.
To improve public safety we will:
Ensure Sentence Compliance
Reduce Re-offending
. . . and to achieve this we will:
Enhance capability
Strengthen partnerships
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ISSN 1178-8453