Summer reissue: We should be unanimously outraged that in seven short years the number of Māori women on remand has doubled, in part thanks to a pernicious reform. What will you do about it, asks Awatea Mita. First published 3 July, 2020. In December this year, it will be six years since I was released … Read more
The UN’s ‘Nelson Mandela rules’ state that you can take away someone’s liberty, but not their humanity. New Zealand’s punitive abuse of Māori and Pacific peoples in prison is trampling all over that, writes Meg de Ronde, executive director of Amnesty International New Zealand. There’s an oft-used quote attributed to Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela: “It is said … Read more
Leonie Hayden gets in her feelings about a shitty day for Māori women. There are days in my job where I feel nothing but hopeful. Like when I think about the work being done by Nuku100, telling the stories of 100 indigenous women. Or I get to wānanga with Donna Kerridge and Ayla Hoeta, or … Read more
We should be unanimously outraged that in seven short years the number of Māori women on remand has doubled, in part thanks to a pernicious reform. What will you do about it, asks Awatea Mita. In December this year, it will be six years since I was released from prison. Since gaining my freedom I have … Read more
Aren’t Can’t Don’t: As a formerly incarcerated person, I know that denying the right to vote violates respect for human dignity, sending the message that absolute rehabilitation is impossible, writes Awatea Mita. This post was first published 28 November 2018. It’s 11.00pm and I am returning to Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility as a “release … Read more
Wellington activist Valerie Morse was among the Urewera 16 arrested and jailed 10 years ago. We present an excerpt from her prison diary, Can’t Hear Me Scream. As follows, four pages reproduced from a kind of journal written inside Arohata Womens Prison by Valerie Morse — one of the Urewera 16 – “of life in prison, the bureacracy and arbitrary … Read more
Getting Your Shit Together is a monthly column on everyday mental health from Auckland mindfulness educator Kristina Cavit. This month she’s talking about the effect yoga has had on her own life, and on those of the prisoners and children she works with. Growing up in New Zealand’s ‘toughen-up’, rugby-dominated sports culture, our school P.E … Read more