How does prisoner employment and training make our communities safer?
The 20 prisons situated throughout New Zealand house over 8,000 prisoners. The majority of these prisoners have limited education or work experience. The last prison census (2003) identified that 52% of prisoners had no formal qualifications and only 45% were in paid work before going to prison.
The overarching goal of the Department is to reduce re-offending; leading to safer communities, and research shows that prisoners who find sustainable work after release are less likely to re-offend. The Department of Corrections, through Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE), aims to provide a range of initiatives to improve prisoners’ employment skills, training and formal qualifications whilst they are serving their sentence.
CIE assesses market trends to identify industries that require qualified workers within the geographical areas that prisoners are likely to be released. CIE then provides training and employment opportunities within these types of industries to upskill prisoners. The aim is to increase prisoners’ chances of obtaining meaningful employment upon release while helping to ease some of the regional skills shortages.