Institutional racism occurs when social institutions give negative treatment to people of a certain ethnicity, which actually leads to inequality. The UN (2015) states that only 15% of New Zealand's population is Māori, yet Māori make up over 50% of the prison population. Racism in the justice system means that people are prosecuted based on the color of their skin. With criminal behavior linked to Māori, this leads to marginalisation, alienation and racism in other forms of society. I will discuss the state of Māori in New Zealand prisons, followed by the effects this has on the Māori community and also the implications this has on wider society. New Zealand has the second highest rate of imprisonment in the Western world (101 East, 2013). . With Māori over-represented across all spectrums of the criminal justice system. The institutional racism present in the justice system links to the isolation and disconnection that many Māori will feel in New Zealand society. Quince (2014) states that "nearly 200 years of dispossession and alienation as a result of the colonization process which has undermined Māori epistemologies and methods of harm management within the community" are what causes Māori to fall into this cycle of crime. Where there is no connection in modern New Zealand society to the systematic prejudice of Maori means that the inequity will continue until something is done. However, since colonization there has been no acceptance of Maori, and that is wrong. There are no benefits of institutionalized racism in the justice system, as more money is spent, more crimes occur and this negatively affects the Māori population. All it does is benefit Pakeha unfairly and normally on the backs of minorities, such as