Book to focus on Maori, punishment and justice system

Kim Workman. In October 2003, Prison Fellowship New Zealand in partnership with the Department of Corrections, opened the first faith based prison unit in the British Commonwealth He Korowai Whakapo

Former Greytown man and justice reform advocate Kim Workman has been awarded the 2015 Victoria University Stout Fellowship to help work on a book about the history of Maori and punishment in the New Zealand criminal justice system.

Mr Workman, Ngati Kahungungu ki Wairarapa and Rangitane, is well-known for his work on criminal justice, corrections policy and Maori development. He served as a police officer in Masterton from 1965 to 1969 during a 17-year career in the force, after which he spent seven years as senior investigating officer in the Office of the Ombudsman.

He also worked in several ministries. Mr Workman oversaw a major reform of the prison service and in 1992 received a Senior Executive Scholarship from the State Services Commission to attend the Graduate Business School at Stanford University, California.

Mr Workman, who is based in Lower Hutt, was involved in establishing the first faith-based prison unit in the British Commonwealth, He Korowai Whakapono (A Cloak of Faith) and the Christian prison after-care programme Operation Jericho, as well as a young people's forum for justice reform, Justspeak, and the Justice Coalition, which brings together 12 justice sector non-government organisations.

Professor Lydia Wevers, director of the Victoria University Stout Research Centre of NZ, which will be hosting Mr Workman, said she was excited about the appointment.

"We are delighted to be hosting Kim and supporting him in the writing of his book. One of his referees said that Kim combines a lifetime of grassroots engagement with the helicopter view of the reforming thinker, and I'm sure this combination of qualities will make for a well-balanced and thought-provoking book," Prof Wevers said.

Mr Workman's fellowship will allow him to work on a book about the development of the criminal justice system in New Zealand, the state and Maori, which will document the history of Maori in the criminal justice system and examine the relationship between punitiveness and neoliberalism.

He will take up the fellowship, funded by the Stout Trust, in February.