From torture in a Beirut cell to the Hawke’s Bay
For five years, Terry Waite was one of the world’s most famous prisoners.
Kidnapped by the Islamic fundamentalists he was trying to negotiate with, Waite and the hostages he was trying to free dominated global headlines in the late 1980s.
Now Waite spends the summer months in New Zealand, and is now campaigning for reform of the prison system, which he says is failing inmates.
He says too many are plagued with mental health and addiction problems and not getting the help they need to rehabilitate.
Waite will deliver the annual Quaker lecture at Whanganui’s Opera House on February 9 on ‘‘Crime and Punishment’’.
‘‘The talk is about making prisons places of rehabilitation rather than simply places of punishment ... the people who commit crimes, the vast majority of them have had a pretty awful background.
‘‘So, you really need to ask the question, why are they behaving as they are behaving? And try and deal with that issue, if you can.’’
The Anglican church envoy was captured in 1987 as he tried to convince Hizbollah militants to free hostages during the Lebanese civil war. He spent 1763 days locked away from the world, much of it chained up. In the last year of captivity he was united with fellow hostages John McCarthy, Terry Anderson and Tom Sutherland.
The ordeal and the isolation taught him great empathy. ‘‘There is nothing like the personal experience of being in solitary, of being confined and of facing a mock execution and being tortured, to help you empathise with people to a greater extent.’’
Last year he met with Justice Minister Andrew Little and former Corrections boss Ray Smith. But he criticises politicians for encouraging a ‘‘tough on crime’’ mentality.
‘‘You have really got to have a competent, highly-trained staff. Not just people who are there to turn keys.
‘‘Sometimes – not always – you have people who have not exercised power in the world outside. Once they get into a position of authority, put on a uniform, they can create havoc for people and not be rehabilitative.
‘‘In a prison, you have got to be able to give people hope for the future, rather than crush them.’’
Waite formed the UK charity Storybook Dads, which allows prisoners to send their children recordings of themselves reading bedtime stories.
He’s spent the last few weeks in Havelock North, where he spends every summer, writing his own children’s books. ‘‘It’s a nice contrast to prison reform.
‘‘I come here principally to write. I’ve written at least two books here ... it is quite a peaceful, friendly place ... we have so many friends now that it is actually very difficult to get away and get the work done.’’