Corrections allows Rotorua offenders back on Billy Macfarlane's Pūwhakamua course

Billy Macfarlane is pleased all his men have returned to his course. Photo / File

Safety and suitability concerns raised over Billy Macfarlane's Pūwhakamua course for Rotorua's repeat offenders have been allayed by the Department of Corrections.

Pūwhakamua focuses on changing lives through tikanga Māori and was launched in May this year. The course has the support of kaumātua, police, lawyers and local leaders.

So when men attending Pūwhakamua were told by their Electronic Monitoring (EM) bail manager they were not to go to the course location, neither they nor Macfarlane knew why.

"Nothing was explained to me," MacFarlane said. "All I was told was that one had been removed and two more were following him."

Since then, Department of Corrections deputy national commissioner Andy Milne has explained the actions of Corrections staff.

"EM bail is administered by New Zealand Police and the Department of Corrections under a shared service model. Corrections prepares suitability reports on offenders for the courts, is responsible for monitoring bail conditions and is the day-to-day contact for defendants.

"Police retain overall responsibility for bail."

He said Community Corrections had raised concerns about the Pūwhakamua course because it had not been assessed for safety or suitability.

"As a result, an interim decision was made to remove offenders from the programme pending assessment of the material covered during the course.

"Following further discussions between police and Corrections, a decision was made that defendants subject to EM bail would be permitted to attend the course. A Corrections representative contacted Mr Macfarlane to explain the situation and advise him of the decision made."

Milne said he was not aware of anyone being charged with breach of their bail conditions in relation to attending the course.

Macfarlane was happy the Department of Corrections had allowed the men back on the course, but thought it unusual a decision had been made to remove them after they had already been attending the course for seven weeks and spent more than 100 hours in classes.

"I feel one or two organisations have been unsupportive of my intention to work with offenders since my release from prison in 2016. Although the parole board supported my plan, it has been difficult to get this far.

"However, I am impressed with the men's commitment and desire to learn their cultural identity and am humbled by the amount of community support we have received.

"We are just trying to do something good and using our culture to promote good thinking, positive action and better people. These men have all had far from normal lives up until this point and I believe they will do better, they already are," Macfarlane said.