Prison riots a reflection of major societal issues
A POPULAR mantra in response to the Waikeria Prison event, apart from the impact of colonisation, is that the Department of Corrections has somehow failed our incarcerated population.
The awkward truth is that incarceration is the end point of a destructive, dysfunctional and largely irreversible trajectory that began in the early years of an offender’s life.
Jails cannot reverse a lifetime of abuse, neglect and criminality, and rates of recidivism have remained substantially unchanged over time which suggests rehabilitative programmes are ineffective.
Ironically, jails are viewed by some offenders as an accepted waypoint in a criminal’s life — a badge of honour.
Offenders appear difficult to profile. The ROC ROI risk prediction tool was recently recalibrated (presumably to lower the threshold for noncustodial sentencing) and the DRAOR — a subjective risk assessment tool — is fundamentally flawed in that it is based on an offender’s selfreport.
As a probation officer, the only reliable measure of risk I used was historical — a change in nature and frequency of offending over time which existed empirically in an offending history report.
The actors at Waikeria are highly organised — they circumvented Waikeria’s intelligence unit. Their ongoing intent is to degrade capacity to incarcerate. Victorian environments such as Christchurch Men’s Prison (old jail) and Invercargill Prison are likely targets.
The genesis of the Waikeria riots and its contributing environment is societal — as long as life choices that perpetuate cohorts of abandoned, neglected and abused persons remain attractive, little will change.
Graham Reinheimer
Dunedin
Trotter column
CHRIS Trotter (Opinion, 15.1.21) states that ‘‘culturally we are blood brothers’’ of ‘‘Trump’s lumpen stormtroopers’’ possessing the ‘‘same racial neuroses, born of the same historical transgressions’’ that afflict both peoples.
He goes on to speak of immigrants who subjugated the indigenous population of both countries and about the evils of capitalism and colonialism.
I suppose that Chris Trotter lives his ‘‘leftish views’’ and I have to admit that I am a little more to the ‘‘right’’ but he is showing a total ignorance of New Zealand’s past and our deeply imbedded feelings of inclusion that have been one of our defining lights in the history of New Zealand.
John Eliott
Wanaka
Sullivan column
ON reading Jim Sullivan’s ‘‘Nothing too serious’’ (Opinion, 12.1.21) I was intrigued about the 1921 quackery to get rid of freckles. The product was highly poisonous.
This reminded me of Rawleigh’s Anti Pain Oil I had bought in the 1970s which was 69% alcohol.
The internal use instruction was
1530 drops in warm water, which could be given to children — and no, I didn’t give mine any.
Lenore Hopkins
South Dunedin
Cricketer
READING about Kyle Jamieson and his outstanding early start to his test cricket career (ODT, 8.1.21), I note the quote: ‘‘It is the kind of statistic unheard of since the 1800s.’’
It appears your cricket writer has overlooked a test cricketer who appeared in the 1960s and ’70s who had a comparable record.
This cricketer played seven tests from 1967 to 1970, taking 41 wickets at an average of 15.02, all against Australia. Because of circumstances beyond his control, by the time he was 23, his test career was over.
Although he played a mere seven tests, he is still regarded as one of the true great allrounders in the history of the game. His name is Mike Procter, from South Africa.
Donald MacRae
Mosgiel