Restorative justice news from PF New Zealand
Restorative justice is a major thrust of Prison Fellowship New Zealand's work. Here are a few snippets from the ministry's December 2010 newsletter, InsideOut.
Esther from our Christchurch Prison Care Group writes…
“ In May we completed the Sycamore Tree programme in the Villas with 6 long term prisoners. One of the community participants had been the victim of a violent attack, and to see the raw emotion of these men as she told her story and the effect this woman had on them was truly amazing. One inmate said that in 18 years in prison this programme was the best thing he had ever been part of. Many men say to us in all sincerity that if they had done this programme at the start of their offending they would never have wasted the years in prison!”
...In 2010 we have completed 40 of these programmes throughout most of the NZ prisons, with a huge input of volunteer time and volunteer raised funds. The demand from inmates increases with the rising prison muster- at one Drug Treatment Unit the manager asked if we could do them continuously.
In 2011 we plan to publish a book with stories and poems from our Sycamore Tree programmes, here is an example:
