“If you’re not trying to abolish prisons in Aotearoa, what are you doing in Parliament?” – Rawiri Waititi

Political parties from across the House have used our longstanding policy to abolish prisons as an opportunity to scare the public, despite decades of evidence proving that prisons don’t work. Te Pāti Māori stands firmly behind our policy of creating an Aotearoa where prisons are not needed.

“Decades of evidence from Aotearoa and across the globe has made it absolutely clear that prisons are completely ineffective at deterring crime, rehabilitating offenders, and lowering re-offending rates” said Te Pāti Māori Co-leader and Justice Spokesperson, Rawiri Waititi.

“Over half of all prisoners reoffend within two years of their release because these institutions were never designed for rehabilitation.

“Prisons don’t work because they do nothing to address the root causes of crime: poverty, inequality, unemployment, homelessness, racism, poor mental health, and trauma.

“We want to move resources away from ineffective prisons towards effective prevention, rehabilitation, and community-led solutions.

“Our entire policy platform is designed to eliminate the root causes of crime; we want to create an Aotearoa where prisons are redundant.

“This isn’t going to happen overnight, but there are immediate steps we can take to achieving this goal: We can repeal three strikes, we can decriminalise drug use, we can make sure every person is housed, and we can reform the tax and social security system to curb inequality, and lift people out of poverty.

“Countries like Norway are already well on their way to eliminating prisons. Instead of large, centralised prisons, Norway has a system of small, community-based correctional facilities that focus on rehabilitation and reintegration into society.

“We are not going to abolish prisons when we are in government in 2026, but we are going to start building an Aotearoa where this becomes a possibility.

“We need a transformative move; focussed on rehabilitation, reintegration and recidivism rather than punishment and incarceration. Our movement is about being hard on healing rather than hard on crime!” Waititi said.