An exercise in passing the buck, that's the assessment from a campaign group to the race relations commissioner's idea to put iwi in charge of prisons

Meng Foon is pushing for prisons to be run by iwi, saying they're able to provide the wrap around services for Maori like housing and employment on the outside.

But Tawhana Chadwick, spokesperson for Indigenous Pacific Uprising, says the racial inequalities in the justice system are the problem, not the people running prisons.

He says rather than working backwards, it would be better to address why there is a greater proportion of Maori in prison to begin with.