About 150 Maori inmates may soon be released

Press, 19 September 1985, Page 25

About 150 Maori inmates may soon be released

PA Auckland About 150 Maori prison inmates are expected to be

released after October 1, if the Maori community can find them homes and jobs. The “Auckland Star” quoted sources as suggesting the Justice Department would release the inmates in answer to protests about the high number of Maoris in jail. The release could be made under sections 80 and 157 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1985, which will take affect on October 1. Inmates who hoped for release would have served half their prison terms. If they could prove they had homes and jobs to return to, and would not be a threat to public safety, they might qualify for release. “It will benefit prisoners as long as there are those agencies in the community

to pick them up,” a source said. The inmates, believed to be mostly from South Auckland, would be released from central North Island prisons — Waikune, Tongariro, and Rangipo. Auckland Maori Welfare and support groups were already being rallied for an emergency meeting in Otara next Tuesday. The meeting organiser, Mr Dan Davis, a spokesman for South Auckland Court Referrals, said the Maori community must prove it could support the inmates. “It is up to us to get togoether to get these people some work, otherwsie they will just go on to the dole again and they will go away (to prison) again,” he said.