14 September
Prisoners from Northland Region Corrections Facility in Kaikohe had a chance to support grassroots rugby in the town recently, by carving trophies for the Kaikohe Rugby Club junior prize giving ceremony.
The club organised a gala event including mini-jeeps and a bouncy castle, to end the season for children in the junior division of under 7, under 9 and under 11 year old teams. Nine trophies were presented to each of the team’s Most Valuable Player, Most Improved Player and Sportsman of the Year.
“One of our senior officers is on the Kaikohe Rugby Club committee, and he raised the idea of prisoners making the trophies as a way of supporting the local community,” says acting Prison Manager Chris Gisler.
“Opportunities like this not only provide prisoners with a constructive activity, but it gives them some pride in completing a worthwhile project and a chance to repay the community for their offending in a small way. Many of the men played rugby at school as children, or have nieces and nephews who play now, and being able to support local kids involved in the sport makes them very aware of what they have left behind by being in prison, and provides motivation for staying out of jail in the future.”
The prisoners who carved the wooden trophies are housed in a unit for some of the jail’s younger and more vulnerable prisoners. There is a strong rehabilitative kaupapa in the unit and most prisoners spend their days working in the prison grounds, or attending education, employment classes and rehabilitation programmes.
“Our job is to keep the public safe from the risk that prisoners can pose. We do that through housing offenders securely. The other way we can provide safety for the community is by working with prisoners to reduce their risk of re-offending and addressing what has led them to prison in the first place.
“Almost all prisoners are released from prison at some point – and by providing prisoners with opportunities to learn new skills, get involved in their communities and start to better themselves we have a much better chance of helping them to successfully reintegrate into life on the outside.”
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