The Minister of Corrections Hon Kelvin Davis (3rd left) with the pounamu at the site's entrance. Pictured with National Commissioner Ben Clark (2nd left), DCE Māori Topia Rameka (2nd right) and Ngāi Tūāhuriri guests. A new Community Corrections site in East Ōtautahi/Christchurch has replaced the former Christchurch East premises at 601 Pages Road. The Pages Rd site had been rendered uninhabitable following the February 2011 earthquakes and for over a decade, services in the area have run from two temporary sites on Stanmore Road and Kingsley Streets.

On 30 June, Minister of Corrections Hon Kelvin Davis officially opened the new site at 296 Breezes Road, following a blessing ceremony in April.

Up to 55 staff will be based at the new site, located on the corner of Pages and Breezes Roads, and around 80 people on sentences and orders will attend the site to meet with their probation officer, attend living and employment skills programmes or connect with representatives of other social service organisations.

“We are interested in opportunities for this site to help connect people on sentences and orders with their culture and whakapapa," says District Manager Toni Stewart.

New reception at Rāwhiti Community Corrections. “A number of our programmes and probation services are currently offered at nearby Ngā Hau e Whā marae which will support the continuation and further development of this partnership with mana whenua, and other agency partners, to these iwi services.”

All sentences and orders, apart from Community Work, which will continue to operate at its current location, will be managed from the East Christchurch Community Corrections site. The site will also be the base for the new community-based Te Mana Wāhine programme, and an employment and training consultant will be based at the site to help people access work.

The new site has been gifted the name Rāwhiti by mana whenua Ngāi Tūāhuriri. Rāwhiti translates as 'east/eastern' and with the sun rising in the east, this is a fitting name for our most easterly service centre.

At the opening ceremony Minister Davis unveiled a pounamu in the site entrance. This pounamu is ‘sister’ to the pounamu at Te Mana Wāhine programme's Huritini Unit, at Christchurch Women’s Prison.

The pounamu is representative of the mauri (life force) of both sites, Christchurch Women’s Prison and Rāwhiti, with the common thread being Te Mana Wāhine Pathway.