FAQs
The Ngā Tūmanakotanga project seeks to understand prison violence in the contexts in which it occurs and to develop localised, place-based interventions to reduce violence and improve safety for prisoners and staff in these settings. To achieve that, the overarching science questions for this proposal are:
- What factors contribute to prison violence? Can we predict these behaviours/events? And if so, what are the applications for resource and cell allocation?
- What is the relationship between gang-affiliation and prison violence? What resources do men from these communities possess that can mitigate future violence?
- What are the properties of the prison environment itself that influence or inhibit violence? How can ecological models of prison inform improved safety and wellbeing, and even participation in rehabilitation practices?
Interpersonal aggression is a global concern and a significant cause of death around the world. In prisons, the human, financial, and health burden of violence is a significant social issue. While maintaining safe prisons is ‘business as usual’ for Ara Poutama Aotearoa/Department of Corrections, incident reports and inspections indicate a high and increasing rate of interpersonal violence across most prisons in NZ. For instance, Corrections data indicate that in recent years one in 200 prisoners has been involved in an act of serious violence each year, not including those cases that were unreported or involved bullying or intimidation.
Human behaviour is complex. The Nga Tūmanakotanga project has adopted the World Health Organization’s definition of violence, which includes “the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment or deprivation.”1
1 Krug E. G., Dahlberg, L. L., Mercy, J. A., Zwi, A. B., & Lozano, R. (2002). World report on violence and health. Geneva: World Health Organization (p.5).
Recent innovations in data capture and the range of variables mean that we can explore research questions about violence, gang-affiliations, and prisons that could not be answered previously. Core assumptions of this research are that prisons are ‘ecologies’ – spaces where people, resources, and the built environment are interrelated – and that violence is a product of a complex of interpersonal and environmental factors that increase the likelihood of assault – but also suggest opportunities for possible solutions.
Gangs have been a conspicuous feature of New Zealand and international social landscapes since the mid-20th century. The prominence of male gang members within New Zealand prisons is disturbing when considering the high recidivism rates of gang-affiliated offenders compared with others. However, little is known about this population save that of popular media accounts and even less is known about the realities of incarcerated gang members. In this sense, prisons are an important space where gangs and the State engage in continuous conflicts, compromise, and even collaborations. Traditionally, gangs have been positioned as a marginalised group. The Nga Tūmanakotanga project indicates a new way of thinking about gangs – as communities to be understood rather than as a problem to be solved – and marks an important break from the criminogenic focus of international gang-centred research. The reported rate of violence for gang-affiliated prisoners has been consistently higher than non-gang prisoners, suggesting that violent and aggressive behaviour is common, if not normative, for these groups. The prominence of gang-affiliated prisoners in Aotearoa New Zealand is growing, an alarming trend when considering the high recidivism rates of offenders who affiliate to these groups. We are interested in understanding the relationship between the gang community and violence, in particular how the gang community influence the causes and control – including the prevention and suppression – of violence.
The Nga Tūmanakotanga project concerns prison violence, not just ‘prisoner’ violence. Correctional research, especially prison-based, almost invariably comments on practices – whether directly or obliquely. It is recognised that prisons can be highly demanding and emotionally toxic environments for prisoners and custodial staff alike and these forces can exact a heavy toll on attitudes and behaviours in these settings. We acknowledge that prisons are primarily human environments that exist under very unique and challenging circumstances. At the reporting stage, commentary from the advisory team would be welcomed to address bias at the communication level.