Trust Initiates Ministarial Enquiry into Patched Gang Members Working with Prison Inmates

5th July 2016

“Patched or non-patched, no gang associate should be working with prison inmates. It makes a mockery of the system and I congratulate Minister Collins for ordering an enquiry”. Guthrie

A patched gang member has been volunteering at Whanganui Prison for five years as a 'Kaiwhakamana', by which he's allowed in the prison to teach wellness and well-being to Maori inmates.

The Sensible Sentencing Trust made an enquiry with the Department of Corrections last week about whether or not a Patched Black Power member had been working inside prisons with prisoners. Acknowledgement was made that this had occurred at Whanganui prison but when the trust suggested it had also occurred at an Auckland based prison it was flatly denied.

“It is very clear to us that the CEO of Corrections has been led up the garden path with false information and lied to by staff working within corrections. This is a breach of trust and whoever is responsible should be removed and removed immediately” Guthrie

It wasn’t until Sensible Sentencing Trust’s national spokesperson on Gangs, Scott Guthrie, produced concrete undeniable evidence of gangs working with prisoners to the CEO’s office that a response was received and that response only came after One News also initiated enquiries.

“Prisoners are in prison for a reason and having anyone associated with crime trying to rehabilitate prisoners is wrong in every sense of the word” Guthrie
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/gang-member-allegedly-working-in-prison-teaching-wellness-maori-inmates

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