Annual Report 2020/2021

Neke atu i te 10,000 ā mātou kaimahi ka mahi i roto i ētahi o ngā taiao uaua, pakeke rawa hoki i Aotearoa, ki ngā tāngata tuatini hoki e whai ana i ngā hāmene taumaha, pēnei i te riri ā-tinana, ā-pāwhera hoki. He nui hoki ngā wā ka tae mai te hunga ki raro i ā mātou whakahaerenga me ngā matea akoranga, hauātanga, mate hinengaro, waranga nui hoki.

Kua roa mātou e ū ana ki te whakapau kaha ki te āwhina i te hunga ki te whakaea i ngā pānga o ā rātou mahi kino, te hiki i te oranga, me te uru haumaru anō ki ō rātou ake hapori. Engari he nui noa atu ngā mahi hei mahi tonu, tatū noa ki te whakaea i ngā tatauranga kino mō te Māori. Nā tēnei kawenga i ārahi atu ki te whanaketanga o Hōkai rangi, tā mātou rautaki ki te panoni i te pūnaha whakatika. I te tau 2020/21, i arotahi mātou ki te whakatakoto i te tūāpapa mō tēnei panoni mau roa, i te wā e ū tonu ana ki te whakaiti i ngā mahi hara me te hiki i te haumaru tūmatanui.

I whakahāngai anō mātou i tā mātou whakahaere, ā, i whakaanga anō i ngā rauemi ki te haumi pai ake ki te haumaru, te oranga me te raukaha o ā mātou kaimahi. He mahi nui tēnei mahi para huarahi ki te whakarite i te toitūtanga o ngā panoni, ā, kia nui tonu te tautokona o ā mātou kaimahi e eke ai tēnei panoni.

I tino eke tā mātou ahunga whakamua i ā mātou kaupapa matua. E pai ana te haere o te hoahoangātahi a Hikitia, tā mātou ratonga hauora hinengaro me te waranga hou i Te Whare Herehere o Waikēria, i whakarewaina hoki e mātou te Huarahi Mana Wāhine mā ngā wāhine i Waitaha, ā, i tīmata mātou ki te whakamātautau i ngā huarahi hou o te mahi i roto i tā mātou hōtaka Huarahi Māori i Te Tai Tokerau me Te Matau-a-Māui.

I whakauru mātou i ngā huarahi pai ake o te whakanoho kaimahi i ā mātou whare herehere mā te kaupapa o Making Shifts Work, i whakarewaina tētahi Rautaki Hauora, Haumaru me te Oranga, ā, i haere tonu ā mātou ahunga whakamua ki te whakaiti ā-haumaru nei i te taupori whare herehere. I te taha o tēnei, i tautoko mātou i te 1,259 tāngata ki ngā tūranga mahi mā roto i tā mātou hōtaka a This Way for Work, i tuku i ngā whakaurunga 3,687 ki ngā hōtaka whakamātūtū i te whare herehere, ā, me te 4,064 i te hapori, me te whakarato i te 1,200 neke atu o ngā wāhi noho ki te hunga kua tukuna i te herehere. Ko ēnei tauanga katoa e whakaahua ana i ngā tāngata kua rapu mahi, kua puta i te waranga, kua tūhono anō ki ō rātou whānau, ā, kua whai ara whakamua ki tētahi oranga hara kore.

E mōhio ana mātou kāore e taea e mātou anake tēnei mahi. Ia wiki, ka mahi tahi ā mātou kaimahi, hoa, kaitūao, kaiwhakarato, me ētahi atu tari kāwanatanga i roto i ngā whare herehere me ngā hapori. I haere tonu ā mātou mahi ki te hanga me te pupuri i ngā rangapūtanga ki ngā iwi, ngā hapū, ngā whānau hoki puta noa i te tau. He mahi nui tō ēnei kaupapa i roto i te āhua hoahoa me te tuku i ā mātou ratonga whakamātūtū, whakauruurunga hoki, kia rite ai te tukunga o ngā hōtaka tika ki te hunga tika i te huarahi tika.

Heoi anō tērā anō ngā wero nui o te tau nei. I rangona tonu te pēhanga o te KOWHEORI-19 ahakoa te roa o te noho i te Pae Mataara 1. Nā ngā akoako i hua ake i te rāhuitanga moata o te 2020 mātou i whakapakari, inarā ko ngā tukanga panoni wawe me ā mātou ritenga o ia rā, kia ū mātou ki ngā Pae Mataara rerekē.

I whakatau i a mātou tētahi hauata nui i Te Whare Herehere o Waikēria, ā, i whiwhi i te tautoko nui mai i te iwi me ngā kaumātua tae atu ki ā mātou hoa ūniana me ngā ratonga ohotata. I tau tēnei raru me te kore anō o te mate, wharanga nui rānei, ā, he tohu tērā i te māia, te ngaio me te manawanui i whakaatuna e te hunga katoa i whai wāhi atu.

E kore rawa au e whakaiti i taku kawenga ki te hiki i te oranga o te tangata me te tiaki i ō tātou hapori. Ia rā ka mahi mātou me ngā tāngata tērā pea ka whai pānga nui ā mātou hohenga katoa. I ā mātou e panoni haere ana i te pūnaha whakatika, me tīmata paku, me ako mai i ētahi atu, ā, me whakatau i ngā take i runga anō i ngā mahi whai hua.

Me haere tonu ngā mahi whakahaere, me te whakataurite i ngā mōrearea tūmatanui, whaiaro hoki i roto i ā mātou mahi katoa. Koirā ngā mahi a ā mātou kaimahi ia rā. Ka nui taku whakapehapeha ki ā rātou mahi i tēnei tau.

We have more than 10,000 staff who work in some of the most difficult and challenging environments in Aotearoa New Zealand, with complex people who have serious convictions, including for physical and sexual violence. People also often come into our management with significant learning, disability, mental health and addiction needs.

We have long committed to doing everything we can to help people address the causes of their offending, improve their wellbeing, and safely reintegrate back into their communities. But there is more to do, especially to address Māori overrepresentation.

This drive to do better led to the development of Hōkai Rangi, our strategy to transform the corrections system. In 2020/21, we focused on setting the foundations for this long-term change, while maintaining our commitment to reducing re-offending and improving public safety.

We realigned our organisation and redirected resources to better invest in the safety, wellbeing, and capability of our staff. This groundwork is critical to ensuring the changes we make are sustainable and that our staff are fully supported to achieve this change.

We made fantastic progress in our flagship projects. The co-design of Hikitia, our new mental health and addiction service at Waikeria Prison, is progressing well, we launched Te Mana Wāhine Pathway for women in Canterbury, and we started testing new ways of working through our Māori Pathways programme in Te Tai Tokerau and Hawke's Bay.

We introduced better ways of staffing our prisons through Making Shifts Work, launched the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Plan, and continued to make progress in safely reducing the prison population.

Alongside this, we’ve supported 1,259 people into work through our This Way for Work programme, delivered 3,687 rehabilitation programme placements in prison and a further 4,064 in the community, and provided more than 1,200 accommodation places to people released from prison. All these numbers represent real people who have found work, overcome addiction, reconnected with their family, and taken a step towards a life free from crime.

We know we can’t do this on our own. Every week, our staff, partners, volunteers, service providers, and other government agencies work together in prisons and communities. We continued to build and maintain partnerships with iwi, hapū, and whānau over the year. These are playing a critical role in how we design and deliver our rehabilitation and reintegration services to ensure the right programmes are delivered to the right people in the most appropriate way.

Of course, the year had its challenges. COVID-19 continued to loom large despite a long period of being in Alert Level 1. The lessons we learned during the early 2020 lockdown held us in good stead, especially in rapidly changing our processes and daily routines to comply with different Alert Levels.

We dealt with a serious riot incident at Waikeria Prison and received valuable support from local iwi and kaumātua as well as our union partners and emergency services. That this incident was resolved without any loss of life or serious injuries is a testament to the bravery, professionalism, and courage shown by all involved.

I never take for granted our responsibility to improve people’s lives and keep our communities safe. Every day we work with people where every action can have a very real consequence. As we continue to transform the corrections system, we have to start out small, learn from others, and make decisions based on what works.

We must also continue to manage and balance public and personal safety risks in everything we do. That’s what our staff do every day. I could not be prouder of them and what they’ve achieved this year.

Jeremy Lightfoot
Secretary for Corrections and Chief Executive
Te Tumu Whakarae mō Ara Poutama Aotearoa