That's despite Maori making up more than half of the country's prison population.

Former prisoners were calling for more Maori content across the board in prison.

Only five out of the country's 18 prisons offer Te Tirohanga, a rehabilitation course tailored for Maori which runs over a year-and-a-half.

It runs in five Maori focus units, and Department of Corrections' data shows it cuts recidivism rates by 4.6 percentage points, which the minister Kelvin Davis believes is a success by international standards.

However, of the 5000 Maori behind bars - only a few hundred can access Te Tirohanga each year.

Raiha Ellis worked in prison volunteering with Maori inmates for 10 years.

"I don't think there is enough Maori focus units and the teaching of Maori in our prisons - given of course we all know the highest percentage of inmates are Maori."

She was the chair of Te Ropu Kaiwhakamana, a group that visited inmates.

Mrs Ellis said kaupapa Maori rehabilitation helped the men she would visit.

Small Maori units are run at a handful of other prisons, and two offer Maori alcohol and drug rehab.

While all prisons offer programmes to strengthen Maori culture - they vary from site to site.

Former inmate Billy McFarlane has worked in jail.

"What I got to see in that time is the strength of our culture in changing men's thinking."

He now works with group of offenders. He said there was nowhere near enough Maoritanga in prison.

"They were not using enough Maori content," he said.

"The courses that we have in prison are either three days long, or eight weeks long and it's just not enough.

"I am dealing with the ones that are coming out of prison now that have gone through those programmes that are still failing big time."

Shane White from Hoani Waititi Marae in Auckland said there was huge demand for the tikanga programme they run in prison.

"Every time we go in there we are meant to pick up a group of 15 and we end up with 32."

He said a number of the Department of Corrections' programmes had little authentic Maori content.

It cherry picked the Maori content which suited it and the prison was not supportive of te ao Maori, he said. Continue reading

• Image: Drug Foundation

Just before Christmas, Archbishop Fisher was diagnosed with Guillan- Barré Syndrome which affects the immune system, resulting in paralysis.

From intensive care at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, he went to Mt Wilga Hospital where, for the past three months, he has been receiving intensive physiotherapy.

The rehab program has helped him regain use of his legs, although his hands are recovering a little more slowly.

Now back in his own residence, the archbishop is planning on working in the mornings and continuing with his rehabilitation program in the afternoons.

On leaving Mt Wilga, the archbishop thanked all the doctors, physios, occupational therapists and the staff for their professionalism and personal care.

During his time in hospital the archbishop has been inundated with prayers, cards and social media messages.

He believes the many prayers have helped him recover a lot quicker than the doctors expected.

It is not unusual for people with Guillain-Barré Syndrome to take two years to recover.

But the archbishop's progress has been steady and encouraging and despite the syndrome rendering him initially paralysed and then muscle weak, his spirits have remained high.

He said his experience has given him a deeper insight into suffering, and when he preaches on the subject from now on, it will be more personal.

"I think I have learnt some new things about suffering and its place in the spiritual life and in recovery."

Last week, Archbishop Fisher participated in the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference plenary.

He also hopes to celebrate Mass for the Feast of Corpus Christi on 29 May at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, when he wants to personally thank parishioners and friends for their prayers and support.

Source

• Sydney Catholic
• Image: Catholic Weekly

The 30-year-old was released from prison more than a year ago. He says he's been on the straight and narrow since and credits that to Destiny Church's Man Up programme.

"I was on a cycle of drugs, gang life, street life, jail life, thug life — that was my life. That was my life before I came here to 'Man Up' at Destiny Church. These days I'm sober and clean. I've been clean for over a year and a half." Continue reading

Re

Shortly before Christmas, Archbishop Fisher contracted a gastrointestinal infection which was complicated by the syndrome.

This was later diagnosed as Guillain-Barre syndrome.

This is a disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the peripheral nervous system.

The condition includes varying degrees of muscle weakness and temporary paralysis.

The great majority of people who suffer from the syndrome make a full recovery.

But in severe cases, the symptom can interfere with the body's vital functions like breathing and can be life-threatening.

Archbishop Fisher spent some time at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, including a spell in intensive care.

In a January 13 update, the archbishop said he had been able to stand for a few moments, which he described as "very encouraging".

A day-by-day improvement has allowed Archbishop Fisher to be transferred to a rehabilitation facility.

According to a January 22 report, he spends most of the day exercising and working with physiotherapists to regain muscle strength.

He has thanked people who have been praying for his recovery and has assured them of his prayers for them.

Friends, family, colleagues, supporters and Catholics from all around Australia and internationally have been expressing their support via email, phone, text and social media.

Youth networks throughout Sydney archdiocese communicated quickly about the need for prayers when the archbishop was first diagnosed and gathered for a night of prayer on January 9 at Sacred Heart parish, Darlinghurst.

Young people from Catholic Youth Services, Catholic University Chaplaincies, University of Notre Dame and Australian Catholic University joined together to alert their networks and host the night.

In one message of thanks, Archbishop Fisher stated that he had asked people to pray that he would have the virtues of patience, courage and hope.

Sources

• Catholic Weekly
• Sydney Catholic
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
• Catholic Weekly
• Image: Catholic Weekly

Ranging from 16 to 86 years of age, nine of the patients were Italian, one was a Muslim from Libya, one was a woman from Ethiopia and one young man was from Cape Verde.

In washing his disciples' feet, Jesus showed all Christians he wanted them to serve others with love, the Pope said.

Two aides assisted the Pope in kneeling and standing up as he washed each patient's feet.

This proved increasingly difficult for the 77-year-old Pontiff.

Before rising, he gave each of the people he washed a long and loving gaze and a broad smile.

Continue reading

Connor Rewha Te Wara, 15, pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Stewart, 74, on June 27 last year.

Te Wara was just 14-year-old when he and his associates - Ben Purua, then 15, and William Frederick Izett, then 17, bashed the retired builder to death.

Purua and Izett later pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Mr Stewart's body was found by a street sweeper near a public toilet in London St, central Hamilton - he died from a blow to the head.

He was last seen earlier that night filling up his 1989 Peugeot 405 at a Norton Rd service station, the same night as the All Black-Wales rugby test in the city.

Mr Stewart's daughter, Tracey Stewart, said she hoped the trio's sentencing at the High Court in Hamilton on Friday would address their rehabilitative needs.

"That would be wonderful if that happened," she said.

"One is being sentenced for murder and two for manslaughter so they'll have different sentences but rehabilitation is definitely a big part of what we'd like to see.

"It's hard to know what systems are in place because we haven't been through this before but that's definitely something we want for them."

Ms Stewart said she and her uncle, Gordon Stewart, would read their victim impact statements to the court.

Source:

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Peter Drury/Waikato Times

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