Māori-run prisons: A prison abolitionist perspective

In New Zealand, Māori incarceration rates are disproportionately high - in 2015, 15% of New Zealand’s population identified as being Māori, while they currently make up around half of the prison population. Earlier this week the idea of Māori-run prisons resurfaced again within the media, with Labour corrections spokesperson Kelvin Davis saying it’s one solution to tackling high Māori incarceration rates, and Marama Fox telling us on The Wire yesterday that this is a solution the Māori Party has repeatedly raised with the government. But not everyone agrees this will be an effective way to approach this problem. Māori prison abolitionist and member of Pacific Panther Network, Sina Brown-Davis, told Ximena her thoughts about the proposal.