Whanganui MP Steph Lewis: Keeping our community safe

MP Steph Lewis (front) with Whanganui Prison learning and interventions delivery manager Deb Griffiths, assistant prison director Lisa Owens, and prison director Reti Pearse.

OPINION

I recently visited Whanganui Prison for the first time since I became MP for Whanganui. It was a great opportunity to see the work it does to keep our community safe, reduce the likelihood of reoffending, and successfully reintegrate individuals back into our community.

My dad, Bob (Red), was a prison officer at Whanganui Prison, and I spent my early years living in the old prison village — in fact, my earliest memory is of three prisoners escaping and running through our backyard in the middle of the night. A number of the prison officers Dad worked with still work at the prison and it was great to see a few of them during my visit.

I’ve spoken to several businesses that have been the victims of ram raids and individuals who have been the victims of crime in our community. Ensuring our community remains safe is a priority for me. One of the best ways we can do that is to work with offenders to address the issues that drive them to crime. The only way to see real progress is to break the cycle of offending, to make sure they do not offend again.

The prison does great work to help reintegrate individuals back into society, including through its work-to-release programmes and supported living in the self-care units.

Last week our government introduced legislation to enable people on remand to participate in rehabilitation programmes like alcohol and drug treatment. Remand is where someone stays in prison while waiting for trial or sentencing. At the moment, rules prevent the mixing of remanded and sentenced prisoners. The result is that those in prison awaiting their court case cannot access rehabilitation. Then when they’re sentenced, many of them have already served their time because of how long they were on remand, so do not take part in rehabilitation programmes before re-entering the community. Allowing people on remand to attend rehabilitation courses will help make our communities safer and reduce reoffending.

The prison visit was an emotional one for me personally, as it was the first time I had been to the prison since my dad passed away there at the end of one of his shifts. I’ll never forget the phone call telling me Dad had collapsed at work.

As I noted in my first speech in Parliament after I was elected, like many professions, being a prison officer is hard. It takes a toll physically and mentally. Many of my dad’s workmates died before they were old enough to retire. Dad was 54, having served for 32 years. That’s why it’s important that we provide universal super at 65.

Labour is committed to keeping superannuation universal and at the age of 65. While average life expectancy has risen, there are too many people in hard professions like my dad’s that mean they don’t get to enjoy the long life expectancy others do. It is important we keep superannuation at 65 for them.