The National Government is open to the concept. Corrections Minister Judith Collins says she is "very keen" if it can be shown to reduce the Maori crime rate.
Dr Sharples wants the 60-bed institution to be located in an urban centre so education and employment opportunities can be provided to Maori prisoners "who are determined to learn, heal and socialise".
He said the institution would still have security measures like other prisons: "There'll be locks on the gates".
Dr Sharples said he had previously referred to the centre as an "alternative prison". It would have fewer jailers and "more healers, teachers, social workers".
Prisoners would have to "earn" their way into the centre by learning to speak Maori, he said.
They would prove themselves by becoming literate if they were not already, getting involved in a community project or charity from inside, and showing good behaviour for four months or more
.
If we were running prisons all white collar crims would be housed in the worst cells. For them it would have the most impact. Instead they end up in cushy prisons and on home detention. So prison is no real deterrent for them.
New figures released by the Department of Corrections show the number of prisoners using drugs has hit a record low.
Acting prison services assistant general manager Leanne Field said the number of prisoners returning positive results after being randomly tested had plummeted to 10.5 per cent, the lowest rate ever recorded across all prisons in New Zealand.
"This is a major achievement given that 34 per cent of prisoners tested positive when testing began in the late 1990," Mrs Field said.
She said the reduction had been achieved through ongoing investment and improvement in prison security, and enhanced visitor and prisoner searching.
"We also undertake regular searches with our 12 drug dog teams and have a highly skilled intelligence team who work to stop criminal activities within prison."
Mrs Field said getting further declines was a challenge as prisoners and their associates in the community were inventive in identifying ways to smuggle contraband into prison.
She said there was also a focus on reducing the demand for drugs in prison through treatment clinics.
- NZPA
Mr Key said National would also allow the private sector to tender for the management of prisons on a case-by-case basis.
great
Auckland Central Remand Prison was privately run under the last National government, but Labour overturned this following the 1999 election,
Mr Key said National would be looking for a much better performance from the Corrections Department.
It couldn't get much worse
"The past decade has seen New Zealanders' confidence in Corrections seriously challenged," he said.
"There have been too many examples of poor management and of Corrections acting without the necessary regard for the safety of the public. This must change.
"There is also widespread public scepticism resulting from facilities such as under-floor heating and flat screen televisions now available to prisoners, especially in the new prisons.
"The National Party believes prisoners should be treated humanely, but that prison facilities should be in keeping with public expectations, reflecting the fact that prisoners are paying a debt to society."
yes no more holiday camps
National is also pledging to boost the number of prisoners learning industry-based skills and double those receiving intensive drug and alcohol treatment.
Mr Key said today re-offending rates were too high and inmates had to learn to change their behaviour.
"At present, 43 per cent of all prisoners, and 65 per cent of those under 20, re-offend within a year of release, and we must do more to change that," Mr Key said.
There is a real challenge here - some you can do something with the others you just need to give them a pass out card because they will return."It's a waste of taxpayer money to let these people serve their time without challenging them to change their behaviour - only to release them and then throw them back into prison again when they re-offend."
Imprisonment should not just be a punishment but also give an opportunity for rehabilitation.
Yes but needs to be realistic.
"Prisoners work just 15 hours per week on average, and that has to change. It's not good for anyone to have these people sitting around all day doing nothing," Mr Key said.
Abso fucking lutely. They need to learn how to work, responsibility and discipline.
A National-led government would boost the number of prisoners learning industry-based skills through Corrections Inmate Employment by 1000 by 2011, at an estimated cost of $7 million.
That would increase the number of prisoners in skills-based work to 3500.
Good - better than leaving them in the units watching crap TV
Mr Key said National was also concerned at the lack of drug and alcohol treatment beds for prisoners.
National would double the number of prisoners who are able to receive such treatment to 1000 by 2011. This was estimated to cost $3.4 million.
Good - but it must be done in a co-ordinated way
National would also:
* Ensure prisoners who are able to work but refuse are not eligible for parole;
10/10
* Carry out a stock-take of support available to released prisoners, including substance abuse treatment, accommodation and employment;
10/10
* Talk to private enterprise about opportunities for meaningful work and training for prisoners;
* Investigate whether money earned from inmate labour could be directed into victim reparations, families, or a savings fund for their release;
excellent
* Re-visit the rules around eligibility for rehabilitation programmes;
* Review screening and treatment of prisoners with mental health problems;
* Expand prison literacy programmes.
Good sound policy. It wont suddenly change the world but it will help change a few lives.
A life sentence will literally mean life for murderers who already have violent records, says the National Party's policy on parole, to be announced today.
This is great news. It will come at at cost financially but there are some violent criminals who should never see the light of day - remember BB spent 4 years working in a a corrections facility.
National will abolish parole for the worst repeat violent offenders.
And it says this will require a new $314 million prison to hold them and an extra $43 million a year to keep them there.
Under the policy, repeat violent offenders will have to serve every day of a sentence if they have previously been convicted of a violent crime and sentenced to five years or more in prison.
This will mean a murderer with a violent record will stay in prison until they die.
This is a much better option than having innocent people die if they are released
If a criminal sentenced to seven years for an aggravated robbery already has a serious violence conviction, they will serve the full seven years.
The "life means life" sentence would have applied to high-profile offenders such as prison-van basher George Charlie Baker, RSA triple-killer William Duane Bell and samurai sword assailant and killer Antonie Dixon.
Good examples - no one in their right mind would ever want to see these men living in their neighbourhood.
All have been sentenced to lengthy non-parole periods and may not be released anyway, but National's policy would deny people like them any chance of being free again.
It is understood National's research shows that of the 144 offenders convicted of murder since 2002, 10 would be in this category.
Preventive detention - a jail sentence with no release date set - can be imposed on serious or repeat offenders.
But parole is still available and National says that since 2002, five offenders sentenced to preventive detention have been released.
I think that this is outrageous. no-one on preventive detention should ever be allowed to see the light of day. But BB is pretty staunch on this issue - to the point that she believes that the death penalty should also be considered in extreme cases.
The policy would have a big effect on the full spectrum of violent crime. Repeat robbers, repeat rapists and those who repeatedly commit violence within the home would not get parole.
Those denied parole under this category would also be monitored for a fixed term when they were released, "rather than being left to their own devices".
Excellent idea.
National's policy says "parole is not a right for prisoners, it is a privilege".
Offences that will lose an offender the right to parole if they offend again would also include attempted murder, kidnapping, rape, grievous bodily harm and some serious assaults.
National leader Key promised this year that one of the first things he would do if he became prime minister would be to toughen parole, bail and sentencing laws.
Good on them - what we also want to see is more resource put into first time offenders - its the only other time that society can make a real difference.
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