Off Campus magazine: November 2003
Letters
Criminologist disappoints
Student inmates
Hurrah for Peter
Poor handwriting
I am an inmate
of Paremoremo Maximum Security Prison and it was with great interest
I read your article 'Student inmates' in the August 2003 Off Campus.
In this particular block four of us are doing Massey University or Open
Polytechnic papers. The institution and its staff are very helpful and
supportive of our endeavours to improve our personal situations. Just
yesterday, one inmate told me how his study has affected his outlook
on life.
The only part of your article to disappoint me and the other students
here was the arrogant ravings of Greg Newbold. While he was selling
marijuana and heroin to the youth of Auckland, I was studying for and
sitting my bursary exams. Since then I have run my own companies, but
according to Dr Newbold I should only be able to "focus on reading,
writing and job skills".
Before writing this letter I took the opportunity to read his book on
his own prison experiences. There is one excerpt that the students I
speak of can empathise with: "We all knew why we were in prison
and could handle that: it was just our hard luck. What we couldn't accept,
and refused to accept was the fact that we were prisoners made us second
class citizens, or lesser persons than those who hadn't been caught
for their crimes".
To Dr Newbold, the supposed brilliant criminologist who did his masters
thesis while in Paremoremo, I would like to ask if he realises that
over 20% of inmates did leave school with educational qualifications.
How are these inmates supposed to rehabilitate through education, or
would he prefer them not to?
Perhaps he should stop evaluating all inmates and comparing them by
the apparent communist standards he was used to 25 years ago, and also
stop glorifying his life based on a prison sentence for selling heroin.
With some of Dr Newbold's ignorant comments on TV these days it is so
obvious to everyone I see, on both sides of the bars, that he is out
of touch with what is truly happening in New Zealand prisons. Or maybe
it has something to do with another excerpt from his book, describing
his feelings after release: "I've grown more cynical, less sentimental
and more independent. I'm less sympathetic towards the personal problems
of other people".
It makes me wonder why the media use this out-of-touch cynic for the
drivel they call news.
John
Paremoremo Prison
Dr Newbold replies:
Your correspondent seems to have completely misread my comments. He
accuses me of saying that inmates should only be able to "focus
on reading, writing and job skills". Nowhere in the article do
these words appear, and I do not say anything of the kind. I made three
main points:
1. Prison education should focus on courses that will be of material
value to inmates when they are released. That means teaching reading,
writing and job skills to the 75% of inmates who have left school without
any qualifications. There's nothing wrong with inmates doing academic
study or Maori culture if they want to, but it isn't where the department
should focus. The focus should be where the greatest need lies, and
in courses that will have the greatest benefit to an inmate's post-release
career.
2. A lot of inmates complain to me that their efforts at educating themselves
are frustrated by prison staff. I don't say all staff do this. At Auckland
Maximum Security Prison, for example (where 'John' is currently located),
I had marvellous cooperation from staff and I'm very grateful for it.
But later in my sentence, at Hautu, the opposite was the case. Things
haven't changed that much. In some jails, doing study is still pretty
difficult. 'John' hasn't been in prison long but he's doing a very long
sentence and will discover this before he gets out.
3. I make the point that I did academic study in prison and have made
a successful career as a result. But this is exceptional. I got my MA
in prison, however I still had to do another six years' study after
my release and earn a PhD before I was able to use it. Very few inmates
are able to do this, and it certainly isn't where the Department of
Corrections should be focussing its meagre educational resources.
Moreover, I would point out to 'John' and anybody else who thinks I
was able to 'cash in' on my prison sentence, that I got no financial
assistance whatsoever from the Department of Justice (as it then was)
while I was studying in prison. I paid for everything myself with what
I had left after the lawyers had finished with me. I think that was
fair and I expected nothing more.
I suggest 'John' should read the article again.
Greg Newbold
Associate Professor
Canterbury University
I commend you on
your article on student inmates in the August Off Campus. You managed
to pack a lot of story into each short section - and captured the challenges
and joys of being an extramural student.
Access to university study is vital to people with the desire and ability
to do it - for people in prison it may be the only lifeline out of a
bleak situation.
One of the benefits of study is the analysis we develop of our own situations.
University study is not for everyone, but a person with a prison record
and a degree will likely have a better chance of employment than one
without a degree.
You've also given the Department of Corrections something to consider.
It sounds as though their policies in this area are well meaning, but
are implemented inconsistently. It may be worthwhile doing a follow
up story in 12 months to see if any of the students feel better supported
in their studies.
Frances White
Palmerston North
Peter Hawes deserves
a hearty hurrah for his Noddy book review which ran in the August Off
Campus.
His probing and insightful expose of the purging of Mr Golly and his
garage had me laughing from start to finish. In a world awash with absurdity
surely the censoring of Noddy by well meaning folks in 1990 must be
right up there.
Keep up the good work
Andrew Moffat
Christchurch
Re Dr Deborah Russell's
reply to computers in exams (Off Campus, August 2003) about
deciphering poor handwriting.
Perhaps she should teach assignment markers to improve their handwriting
so that as students we can see where we went wrong when trying to interpret
their comments and suggestions.
Rex Eavestaff
Pahiatua
