Prisoner Employment

Purpose
The Department of Corrections aims to improve public safety by reducing re-offending. Research shows that prisoners who find sustainable work after release are less likely to re-offend.

Background
The majority of prisoners have limited education or work experience. The last prison census identified that 52 percent of prisoners had no formal qualifications and only 45 percent were in paid work before going to prison.

Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE)
The Department, through Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE), aims to provide a range of initiatives to improve the future employment prospects of prisoners, thus making a long term contribution to their rehabilitation, thereby reducing re-offending.

These initiatives deliver employment skills, training and formal qualifications to prisoners while they are serving their sentence. CIE assesses market trends to identify industries that require skilled workers within the geographical areas that prisoners are likely to be released. It then provides training and employment opportunities within these types of industries to upskill prisoners in the country’s 20 prisons.
 
Types of employment and training
Prison-based industries: There are over 140 industry units in prisons across the country. They aim to provide work environments that match, as closely as possible, comparable industry environments. Examples of these include farming, nurseries, horticulture, forestry, timber processing, joinery, building construction, pre-cast concrete, light engineering, printing, electrical assembly, textiles, catering and laundry.

Work parties: These are supervised groups of low security prisoners who meet the strict criteria to work on work contracts outside the prison for local and regional councils, communities or businesses. They work in areas such as forestry, horticulture, farming, construction and grounds maintenance.

Release to Work programme: Prisoners approaching the end of their prison sentence may be eligible to engage in employment in the community, with an approved employer, with a view to gaining employment on release. These prisoners are low security prisoners who meet strict eligibility criteria and have demonstrated that they are highly motivated to work.

Trade & technical training: Prisoners have the opportunity to undertake industry training which provides them with formal qualifications through the New Zealand Qualifications Authority framework, allowing them to gain unit standards or industry certified national certificates. Although qualifications are also gained ‘on the job’ by prisoners in prison-based industries, this category refers to training delivered by external contractors within the prison environment. It often comprises theoretical and practical components and is similar to training delivered by Polytechnics.

Unit based activities: Prisoners are engaged in self-sufficiency tasks such as the cleaning and care of their unit, community work parties and other constructive activities.

Eligibility
Prisoner employment and training is a significant part of a prisoner’s sentence plan. The eligibility criteria for each employment and training activity varies and is dependent on a number of factors including:

• the location of the work or training in relation to prisoners’ security classifications eg. maximum security prisoners do not work outside the prison
   
• the type of employment or training being undertaken in relation to prisoners’ security classifications and criminal histories
   
• ability to mix prisoners eg. segregated and youth prisoners are not able to be mixed with mainstream prisoners
   
• maximum number of prisoners per instructor

Market rates
CIE ensures its services and products are sold at market rates. There are often additional costs incurred by CIE that other organisations in the private sector would not incur such as the very high prisoner/labour turnover, high training costs, and the cost of custodial supervision and management. Any revenue generated by CIE activities is placed back into employment or training opportunities for prisoners.

Incentive
There are two different incentive frameworks for prisoners undertaking employment:

• Prisoners undertaking work in CIE industries, work parties and training receive an incentive for engaging in employment or training. This incentive is between 20 and 60 cents per hour. This incentive can be spent on personal items. It is reflective of the environment in which prisoners are housed and the reduced need for personal spending. All living necessities are provided for prisoners including food and clothing.
   
• Prisoners on the Release to Work programme receive market wages however they are required to pay board, any outstanding fines or Court imposed reparation to victims, child maintenance, their own travel to and from work, and any tools/clothing required for employment. Once all the expenses are removed from their earnings, the balance is placed into a savings trust account to assist with their re-integration into the community on their release. Most of this money is not available to them prior to release without the direct approval of the Prison Manager and only for proven cases of family hardship.

Prisoner Employment Strategy
The Prisoner Employment Strategy (PES) was introduced in July 2006 with the goal of increasing the number of prisoners engaged in industry based employment or training from 40 to 60 percent of the prison population by 2010. At the time this represented an additional 1,900 prisoner placements in employment or training.

In February 2009, 51 percent of the prison population or 4,065 prisoners were engaged in some form of employment or training. This represents an increase of almost 1,000 prisoner employment and training positions since June 2006. Sixty six percent of sentenced prisoners are now active.

The Department is developing a new strategy to boost the number of prisoners learning industry-based skills through CIE by a further 1,000 prisoners by 2011. Part of that strategy will involve engaging with private companies about meaningful work and training for prisoners.

Initiatives are being developed to expand literacy and numeracy programmes so that more prisoners leave prison able to read, write and do maths better than when they arrived.

Contact
Do you have product requirements, work or a contract that you believe CIE can assist in, please contact 04 470 8494 or email cieworktraining@corrections.govt.nz

Media
For any media enquiries relating to CIE or the Release to Work programme, please contact the Communications Service Desk on 04 460 3365 or email commdesk@corrections.govt.nz