Parole Board: System ‘fundamentally wrong’

• Published date: 21 October 2023
• Publication title: Whanganui Chronicle

Blake Hollins-Apiata has been jailed twice in the past 15 months — first for breaking the jaw of a police officer and then for stabbing a boy

It has been identified that the 19-year-old needs help with serious violence and substance abuse issues but any steps towards his rehabilitation have been thwarted by the lengthy delays inmates are experiencing in accessing the Department of Correction’s treatment programmes.

Hollins-Apiata’s setback has led to fresh criticisms of a system “failing” prisoners and the public.

His lawyer Julian Hannam said the teen’s case was not uncommon as many young inmates were not getting assistance at an early stage of their sentences, which risked a loss of hope and motivation among them.

The Parole Board said it was “fundamentally wrong” that Hollins-Apiata has been stalled within the prison system, and a judge has lambasted the Department of Corrections for prisoners’ lack of access to rehabilitation programmes.

Former corrections minister Kelvin Davis acknowledged, prior to the General Election, there have been delays and said it was due to the impacts of Covid and subsequent Corrections staffing issues.

He said the programmes were “ramping back up now”.

But figures show the number of prisoners in programmes were waning long before Covid hit, and have in fact steadily declined by more than two-thirds since 2016.

Hollins-Apiata was jailed in July last year for two years and six months for breaking the jaw of an off-duty police officer.

In August, he returned to court from prison for sentencing on a separate matter. He received another jail term, this time of three years and six months, for stabbing a 15-year-old, and assaulting two other teens, at a party in Taranaki.

At the recent sentencing, Hannam told Judge...