How We Can Improve New Zealand’s Prison System

JustSpeak is thrilled to announce the launch Unlocking Prisons, a comprehensive, research-based report into how New Zealand can improve its prison system.

The report will be launched 6.30pm on Tuesday 24th June at Allpress Gallery, 8 Drake Street, Freemans Bay, Auckland.

The report is the product of over a year of research by a large number of people working across a range of fields with a view to informing policy makers and politicians as to how we can improve the corrections system.

The report is a starting point to a discussion in which, we think, all New Zealanders should engage. The report questions New Zealand’s reliance on prisons and looks to what improvements can be made to the current structure.

JustSpeak spokesperson Lydia Nobbs says, “Whilst valuable policies and initiatives are being pursued, more needs to be done to reduce rates of incarceration, and to assist offender rehabilitation and reintegration”.

“How we decide who to send to prison, why we send them there, and how to ensure that these individuals leave prison less likely to commit further crimes is a challenge to which all New Zealanders must turn their minds.”

Media are welcome to attend the launch, where three members of JustSpeak will provide an overview of the report and its recommendations, followed by three guests speaking to the report: Professor Warren Brookbanks from the University of Auckland's Law Faculty; Judge Frances Eivers of the Youth and Rangatahi Courts; and Dr Paul Wood, Founder of Switch Consulting, who himself spent a number of years in prison.

A summary of the report is now available on our website to provide some insight into the content of the report. The full version will be available following the launch, both online and in hard copy.

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