6 April 2021
C131231
R. Tait
[FYI request #14578 email]
Tēnā koe R. Tait
Thank you for your email of 29 January 2021, requesting information regarding
Corrections relationships with mana whenua groups. Your request has been
considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).
Hōkai Rangi represents a new strategic direction for Corrections, with a focus on
innovating to find new and alternative ways of doing things to achieve better
outcomes for Māori and their whānau. This strategy will underpin transformative and
intergenerational change for people in our custody and their whānau. At the heart of
the strategy is the concept of oranga, or wellbeing.
In recent years changes in the prison population has challenged us to rethink how
we provide services, facilities, and programmes, and how we interact with people in
our custody. We rose to those immediate challenges by providing sufficient capacity,
hiring a diverse workforce, and providing educational and rehabilitation programmes
- but we must do more.
Hōkai Rangi expresses our commitment to delivering great outcomes with and for
Māori in our custody and their whānau, so that we can begin to address the
significant over-representation of Māori in the Corrections system. This strategy
ultimately aims to lower the proportion of Māori in our custody to a level that matches
the Māori share of the general population.
Through effective and authentic partnership, we can build towards the elimination of
disproportionate imprisonment and re-offending by Māori. Corrections will lead
through best-practice Crown-Māori relations and have authentic shared decision-
making at key levels, designed alongside Māori.
Further information on Hōkai Rangi is available on Corrections’ website via the below
lin
k: www.corrections.govt.nz/resources/strategic_reports/
corrections_strategic_plans/hokai_rangi.
Information regarding our progress with Hōkai Rangi is also available on page 43 of
Corrections’ 2019/2020 Annual Report:
www.corrections.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/42273/Annual_Report_2019_2
020.pdf. You have requested:
1. Has Corrections undertaken any project of work to identify and communicate
with mana whenua groups for each prison? If so, please provide me with all
documentation of this project of work.
2. If Corrections has identified the mana whenua groups for each prison, please
provide me with a full list of all mana whenua groups identified, broken down
by prison.
Action point 1.6 of the Partnership and Leadership strategy is:
“work with mana whenua at each prison site to define what meaningful
partnership looks like locally and confirm the mutual outcomes that we
each seek to achieve for and with the people in our care and
management.”
Corrections is on track to complete this action point by 30 June 2021. Please see
Appendix One – Identified mana whenua groups for each prison and details of
engagement undertaken with mana whenua. Please note this information is collated
at a regional level, and therefore the level of detail and the format in which this is
provided differs by region.
I trust the information provided is of assistance. Should you have any concerns with
this response, I would encourage you to raise them with Corrections. Alternatively,
you are advised of your right to also raise any concerns with the Office of the
Ombudsman. Contact details are: Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152,
Wellington 6143.
Ngā mihi
Topia Rameka
Deputy Chief Executive - Māori
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Appendix One – Identified mana whenua groups for each prison and detail of
engagement undertaken with mana whenua.
Northern Region:
Site
Mana Whenua
Northland Region Corrections Facility
Ngāti Rangi
Auckland Prison
Ngāti Whātua
Te Kawerau a Maki
Mt Eden Corrections Facility
Iwi Whānui:
Ngāti Whātua o Ōrakei
Te Akitai Waiohua
Te Kawerau a Maki
Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki
Ngāti Te Ata
Ngāti Paoa
Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility
Pūkaki ki te Ākitai
Te Ākitai Waiohua
Ngāti Te Ata
Engagement undertaken
Memorandum of Partnership (MOP) signed in March 2001 by a general manager for the Chief
Executive and by the Ngāti Rangi Hapū Development Committee. An updated addendum to this
agreement is currently being finalised. The agreement makes provision for kaitiaki involvement in
the design and construction of the prison and in their ongoing management and delivery of
services.
Ngāti Whātua, through Dame Naida Glavish, has been involved in the rebuild of Auckland East.
Dame Naida has overseen the original and subsequent designs, organised site blessings including
laying mauri stone and the cultural blessing of the new build prior to Corrections’ occupancy.
In 1998, Corrections signed a Memorandum of Partnership (MOP) with the Iwi Whānui o Tāmaki
Makaurau Project Group to create a relationship with tāngata whenua over the establishment of
Auckland Central Remand Prison (ACRP). The MOP was signed on behalf of Corrections by the
Chief Executive and by representatives of manawhenua as listed including Huakina Development
Trust (a body representing Waikato-Tainui marae in the area from the lower Waikato River to the
Manukau Harbour) to sign. The MOP essentially focused on the discovery of koiwi and taonga
during the construction of the prison. No further engagement has been undertaken since.
A Memorandum of Partnership (MOP) was signed in 2006 by the Chief Executive and Pūkaki ki Te
Ākitai to establish a working relationship between Corrections and Pūkaki Marae in respect of
ARWCF. Pūkaki ki Te Ākitai Ltd was contracted to provide kaitiaki services from 2007-12 and are
also contracted to deliver Te Ihu Waka programme and are part of a co-design working group for
development of the new Special Treatment Unit.
Tangata Whenua Committee (TWC) established upon the recommendations of the Board of Inquiry
when consent was issued for SERCO to build ASCF. The intention was for TWC to work with both
Kohuora ASCF and ARWCF on matters relating to the impact of prison activities on Māori. The
committee was established and its membership includes Te Ākitai Waiohua, Ngāti Te Ata, Te
Kawerau a Maki, Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki, Ngāti Tamaoho, Ngāti Whātua o Ōrākei,
Waikato-Tainui (Te Kauhanganui Incorporated), and the Huakina Development Trust.
As a member of TWC, the Huakina Development Trust worked with other TWC members to put
together and submit the business case to the Social Impact Fund Allocation Committee which was
signed off the by Minister in 2020. Huakina Development Trust will support the design, delivery and
evaluation of the 12-month project. The ‘TWC whānau visit project’ aims to record positive and
negative experiences of visitors to Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility and Auckland
South Corrections Facility. The project will provide the TWC with independent information required
to robustly assess the visitors’ experiences when they visit their whānau at the facilities.
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Central Region:
Site
Mana Whenua
Spring Hill Corrections Facility
Ngāti Naho
Waikeria Prison
Ngāti Raukawa
Ngāti Maniapoto
Tongariro Prison
Ngāti Tūwharetoa
Engagement undertaken
Ngāti Naho:
• have co-designed a staff training package, which formally commenced October 2020 and
rollout is expected to be completed by June 2021. The staff training package is about the
kaitiaki role they have towards delivering services to the people in our care and
management.
• are working alongside other agencies to develop a Ra Tapuae a Atawhai compassionate
footsteps Strategy to develop the ‘0800 Kaitiaki’ phone service, which is part of the remand
responsivity initiative led by Ngāti Naho. Work in progress with Ngāti Naho and Ngāti
Mahanga alongside the site leadership. The partnering component is resourced and
potential for remand interventions with other partners/iwi.
• have worked together to provide an interim location of the Tai Aroha intervention
programme at Hukunui a Muri Marae
• Are developing the Te Mauri Paihere ki Mangakootukuku Resettlement Centre with the
Kīngitanga office
Raukawa and Maniapoto:
• Are developing the Te Mauri Paihere ki Mangakootukuku Resettlement Centre with the
Kīngitanga office
• Are co-designing the Waikeria Prison Mental Health and Addition Services facility -
development of the “Ahi Kaa Document “ as the founding document under a tikanga Māori
framework for the new build footprint (alongside other agencies and groups)
• Working with kaumatua roopu to provide advisory services
• Working with kaiwhakamana to support Maniapoto whānau in custody
Ngāti Tūwharetoa:
• Have a col ective agreement with 10 Crown agencies and the office of Te Āriki Tā Tumu te
Heuheu
• Pou Tikanga position selected by Tūwharetoa, which provides cultural support and is
responsible for supporting staff and the people in our care and management to ensure that
the appropriate tikanga relevant to their rohe is adhered to
• Formal secondment with Tūwharetoa to help complete five local marae refurbishment
projects
• Re-introducing Kaumatua roopu
• Iwi Involved in small projects across the site
• COVID-19 responsivity plan to support the needs of the Hāpori.
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Lower North Region:
Site
Mana Whenua
Whanganui Prison
Ngāti Tūpoho
Ngā Wairiki
Ngāti Apa
Manawatu Prison
Rangitāne o Manawatū
Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga
Arohata Prison and Rimutaka Prison
Taranaki Whānui ki te Ūpoko o te Ika
Ngāti Toa Rangatira
Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison
Ngāti Pōporo
Ngāti Pahauwera
Engagement undertaken
In 2007 the then Minister of Corrections signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Te Rūnanga o
Tūpoho. The purpose was to set up an ongoing relationship between the parties with regard to ‘the
Corrections services and facilities in the Whanganui rohe’.
Ngā Wairiki, Ngāti Apa, and Tupoho have aligned themselves to the Wanganui Land Settlement
Trust wanting a formal gateway with the Crown. The new Whanganui Land Settlement Trust have
requested a meeting with Corrections on the late March 2021. Corrections expect clarity about how
iwi dynamics will continue in the district and whether the 2007 Memorandum of Agreement with
Tūpoho will still be applicable.
Partnering agreement with Ngāti Pōporo in regard to the establishment and operation of Whare
Oranga Ake. Ngāti Pōporo are also consulted informally over important events at the Te Tirohanga
unit.
In 2004 Corrections established Memorandum of Partnerships (MOP) with Rangitāne o Manawatū
and Te Rūnanga o Raukawa to provide advice over the delivery of community probation services.
A Wairarapa-Manawatu Māori Leadership Board was established in 2013 and is still currently in
operation. Membership: 2x representatives from Rangitaane, 1x representative from Kahungunu ki
Tamaki a Rua, 1x representative from Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, representative from the
Muaupoko Tribal Authority.
As part of its treaty settlement, Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust (PNBST) entered a whole-of-
government accord in 2011. This included a Corrections Portfolio Agreement signed by the
chairman of the PNBST and the Chief Executive of Corrections. This provided for the pursuit of
matters of mutual interest, including offender rehabilitation and reintegration and a right of first
refusal over Corrections’ land within the Port Nicholson Block boundaries. This includes Rimutaka
Prison.
Corrections has a close, ongoing relationship with Ngāti Toa Rangatira. Ngāti Toa Rangatira meet
jointly with Te Rūnanganui o Te Atiawa every week. Parties are considering a potential joint
Memorandum of Understanding between Corrections and Ngāti Toa Rangatira and Te Rūnanganui
o Te Atiawa with an expected sign-off by the Chief Executive Corrections.
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Southern Region:
Site
Mana Whenua
Invercargill Prison
Kai Tahu ki Murihiku, Te Runanga o Waihōpai
Otago Corrections Facility
Kai Tahu, Ōtākou Runanga
Christchurch Women’s Prison, Christchurch
Kai Tahu
Men’s Prison and Rolleston Prison
Ngāi Te Ruahikihiki, Tuahiwi
Ngāi Tūāhuriri, Taumutu
Engagement undertaken
In Southland, Mana Whenua groups are currently supporting the leadership teams and staff
through cultural capability training and advice.
Christchurch Men’s, Christchurch Women’s and Rolleston Prisons are supported by Regional Māori
leadership boards, which are facilitated by the Regional Māori Partnerships team.
The Mana Wahine Pathway is a project in the Māori Pathways programme, being designed in
partnership with mana whenua and kaupapa Māori service providers in Canterbury. Taumutu and
Tuahiwi have been closely involved along with the Te Pūtahitanga Whānau Ora Commissioning
Agency.
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