Second chances: inside the South Island's only youth justice centre

Thursday, 4 June 2020

The majority of the young people housed at the Te Puna Wai ō Tuhinapo youth justice residence in Rolleston, Christchurch come from troubled backgrounds. For many of them violence, addiction and abuse was part of everyday life.

But Te Puna Wai is their second chance – a chance to turn it around and get their lives back on track. The residence is one of four Oranga Tamariki youth justice residences in New Zealand and the only one on the South Island.

Stephen Gray knows all about second chances. The Te Puna Wai ō Tuhinapo youth worker is able to relate on a very personal level with the children he works with.

As a teen, irresponsible behaviour led Gray to a point where he had to choose: Utilise the one opportunity he's got, or maybe end up in the same place where these young people now find themselves. He chose the former.

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“I believe in second chances, because I am the perfect example of getting and taking a second chance.'

Gray's parents came to New Zealand from Samoa and worked hard to give their children the opportunities they needed.

A budding rugby star at a young age, Gray went off the rails during his teenage years. “The values my parents had taught me started to disappear. I started to drink, meet girls and party a lot. My school attendance dropped and I lost [an offer for a] Lincoln University Rugby Scholarship,” he says.

Aged 17, Gray’s options were limited, but his resolve was strong.

In 2000 he moved to Japan to play professional club rugby, even though he could not speak a word of Japanese. “I didn’t have many options and that was the only opportunity I had. I knew it was either that or I could have ended up just like our young people here [at Te Puna Wai].”

Today Gray speaks fluent Japanese and boasts a degree in sociology. After a successful rugby career in Japan, he went on to work in finance as a broker in Tokyo and London and travelled the world.

But living his life as high-flyer jet-setting across the world was not what Gray wanted to do with his life. Four years ago he decided to return to New Zealand to pursue what he had never been able to: to give back.

“I thought after building up enough life experience around the world, I was able to be an effective youth worker by sharing my life experiences.'

Gray designs programmes for the young people at Te Puna Wai to pass on not only the skills he had learnt throughout his career, but also the values that got him there.

The biggest challenge is “breaking down the wall” of the young people that come into the residence and building a relationship with them.

“I can encourage them to go out and grab that second opportunity. Hopefully I get to inspire them to break away from their tunnel vision and realise there is more out there in the world – they should go see it.”

His greatest reward is running into a former Te Puna Wai inmate and hearing how well they were doing. “That is what drives me. It is good for my soul.”

There are 123 young people in youth justice residences in New Zealand of which only 11 are female. Between 800 and 900 young people are admitted to the residences every year. Te Puna Wai can accommodate up to 40 boys at once, but it is rarely at capacity.

Some of them manage to stay out of trouble. Others don't.

A 16-year-old boy at Te Puna Wai tells us he has been there for the past two months, but in and out of the residence since he was 14. He is determined when he leaves this time, he won’t be coming back.

“I want to stop using drugs, full stop. Just get a job and stuff, work with my dad for a bit and move on from there.” He hopes to one day work on fishing boats.

Another boy hopes his three months at Te Puna Wai will help him finally turn over a new leaf.

“My mum and dad were not really around much [and] I was just getting in trouble since I was very young,” he says. His time at Te Puna Wai has been “alright”.

“I’ve learnt to interact with people properly and just matured a bit more.”

Not all young people staying in the residences are sentenced offenders. Some are on remand while their cases are still before the courts, says Ben Hannifin, general manager of Youth Justice Residences.

About a third are there in relation to vehicle-related crime. Another third for property-related offences, such as burglary, and the remainder charged with violent offences such as aggravated robbery or domestic incidents.

The residence doesn’t have a blemish-free track record. Te Puna Wai came under fire in the 2016 State of Care report by the Office of the Children's Commissioner, which said management practices at the site were causing harm to children.

The following year concerns were raised after 72 staff left and 80 employment investigations had been held since current Te Puna Wai ō Tuhinapo residence manager Russ Caldwell took charge two years before. The National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) said it was concerned over the “high number” of investigations and issues relating to staff.

At the time Hannifin acknowledged there were improvements that could be made and said the Te Puna Wai leadership team was driving a programme to achieve those.

Great strides have been made and Oranga Tamariki continues to address youth offending in a way that focuses on prevention and reintegration, says Hannifin.

Caldwell agrees that youth justice is focused on getting young people on the right path and preventing a cycle of reoffending that would eventually lead to them ending up in the adult criminal system.

When someone is admitted to Te Puna Wai, a structured plan is tailored for them to address the underlying factors that contribute to their offending and offer them any treatment or support services they need.

“They come here from chaotic and unstructured worlds into an environment where they suddenly have to think about the impact they have on others,” says Caldwell. “If you’ve been in survival mode all your life, things like empathy don’t necessarily come naturally.”

Youth offenders can be sentenced to up to six months in a youth justice residence, but some of the youngsters stay at the residence for much longer, says Caldwell.

“Some of the young people can be on remand for between 12 and 18 months, depending on the nature of the crime and how long it takes to go to trial. While we can never predict the outcome of the court process, we work closely with our colleagues in the field and can generally get a feel for how long the young person is going to be with us.'

Part of Oranga Tamariki’s approach is offering youth inmates different programmes that expose them to a wide variety of environments and skills.

They can take part in an agricultural programme where they get hands-on experience with sheep-shearing, animal husbandry, weed spraying, fencing, operating farm machinery and the like.

Boys can learn to drive and obtain their drivers license, or do a mechanics, adventure-therapy or academic programmes, learn landscaping skills, sharpen their sporting abilities, or take part in a Kaupapa Māori class.

Having staff from myriad backgrounds with very different professional experiences is key, says Caldwell.

“All of them bring their own set of skills and experiences to the table. They might have been top athletes or sports coaches, or come from academic backgrounds. There is not one profile or qualification that suits someone who works here.”

With the continuous decline in youth offending there is a case to be made regarding the efficacy of New Zealand's youth justice system. The overall offending rate for young people aged 14 to 16 fell 58 per cent between 2010 and 2018.

But, serious crime has not fallen to the same extent, it makes up a larger proportion of all youth offending.

And breaking the cycle remains the biggest challenge.

A 2019 Youth Justice Indicators report showed 45 per cent of 14 to 16-year-olds who appeared in the Youth Court in 2016/17 reoffended within 12 months; 65 per cent reoffended within 24 months.

“Our job is not to punish them. The punishment is what the court hands out. They are deprived of their liberty, that’s the punishment,' says Caldwell.

'Our job is to give them a genuine opportunity to change their lives for the better.”