Prison Fellowship takes exception to MP's comments

Chester Borrows public comments about Prison Fellowship raises questions about our integrity and independence, said Prison Fellowships National Director, Kim Workman. He may also have unwittingly pitted two justice reform agencies against each other, and further promoted the false idea that there are two kinds of groups those who are pro-offender, and those who are pro-victim. Prison Fellowship works with both victims and offenders.

Kim Workman was responding to a press release by Chester Borrows, National MP claiming that government contributed financially to Prison Fellowship for its conferences and not to the Sensible Sentencing Trust, because Prison Fellowship supported prisoners rather than victims, and agreed with the government on policy issues.

I have made an appointment with Mr Borrows to discuss his press release. The view that Prison Fellowship does not support victims is untrue. In fact, the purpose of Prison Fellowships work internationally is to support services and ministry to victims and their families, prisoners and ex-prisoners. In the last financial year, as part of the Sycamore Tree program, 156 crime victims from the community went into prisons under the Prison Fellowship banner, sharing with 156 prisoners the impact that their offending had on lives of the victims, and the lives of the victims families. In addition, our Restorative Justice Manager, Jackie Katounas, facilitated 12 meetings between serous offenders and their personal victims offences which included rape, serious assault, armed robbery, home invasion, and attempted murder. Meetings were held between a murder victims family and the offender. We are not funded at all by government for this work, and are currently seeking donations to meet the cost.

This is not the actions of an organisation with a bias against victims. Rather, it is about an organisation committed to the healing of victims, which also understands that if we are serious about reducing the number of victims in our community, we need to reduce the number of offenders.

Prison Fellowship has never been funded by government for its lobbying activity, as claimed by Mr Borrows. The government contribution to Prison Fellowship Conferences in both 2006 and 2007 went toward meeting departmental outputs, i.e. the provision of contestable policy advice, and travel costs associated with bringing international experts to New Zealand to speak at conferences and associated policy seminars. output.

If Chester Borrows reads the 2006 Conference report, Beyond Retribution Advancing the Law and Order Debate he will find that Prison Fellowship has provided robust alternative policy advice to government on a wide range of criminal justice issues, much of which is not in line with current government policy. That information can be downloaded at
http://www.rethinking.org.nz/publications%20pfnz%20conference%202006.htm

I am astounded that Chester Borrows sought this financial information under the Official Information Act. All he needed to do was to pick up the phone, and I would have freely provided him with it.

ends

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