Otago Corrections Facility (OCF) opened in 2007 and was the third of four new prisons constructed as part of the Department's Regional Prisons Development Project.
OCF accommodates up to 335 male prisoners ranging from low to high-medium security and employs 200 staff.
OCF is situated near Milton in South Otago and is part of Prison Services Southern Region.
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Further information
Design
Security
Reducing re-offending
Motivational programmes
Cognitive-behavioural programmes
Prisoner employment
Education
Reintegration
Working with the community
Design
OCF incorporates design and features that are intended to be most effective in terms of safety, security and rehabilitation. The design is consistent with modern prison design internationally and the Department's experience operating New Zealand prisons.
OCF is deliberately designed quite differently from traditional prisons. It is basically a big secure enclosure with a range of separate units set in a large open space within a highly secure perimeter.
Accommodation units are clustered around centrally located services such as kitchens, industry areas and programme rooms.
The entire facility is enclosed by a highly secure perimeter fence with a single controlled point of entry. This secure perimeter allows a more open internal prison environment, where prisoners can move through a planned day.
This protects the public and staff, reduces stress and prisoner management issues and provides a more effective environment for treatment, training and work programmes.
Security
Protecting the public is the Department's highest priority, and this is accomplished through the secure incarceration of prisoners.
The level of physical security at each prison varies and is dependant on the type of prisoner accommodated. Because OCF is a high security prison and accommodates prisoners assessed as a potential risk to the public, the level of physical security is higher than would be found at some other prisons.
OCF is enclosed by a highly secure concrete perimeter fence topped with electrical wire. The area immediately surrounding the fence is equipped with lighting, surveillance and detection equipment.
The prison also has a single point of entry. Everyone entering the prison, including staff, must pass through the gatehouse, where their belongings will be x-rayed and they will pass through a metal detector. This prevents contraband being smuggled into the prison.
In addition, electronic security devices and cameras, closed circuit TV, video motion detectors and microwave sensors are used throughout the prison.
Reducing re-offending
Reducing re-offending is critical if the Department of Corrections is to meet its overriding objective of improving public safety.
Reducing re-offending means fewer offenders commit crime after completing their sentence - resulting in fewer victims, a reduction in the cost of crime and safer communities.
OCF provides prisoners with a range of programmes and interventions that are designed to address the primary causes of their offending and prepare them for release.
The most intensive interventions are targeted at prisoners who are assessed as being a high risk of re-offending, that have severe needs that caused their offending and are motivated to make constructive changes in their lives.
Every prisoner entering OCF receives a sentence plan which they are required to comply with. The focus of the sentence plan is on reducing re-offending on release and is developed following an assessment of a prisoner's risk, needs and motivation to ensure they are placed on the most appropriate and timely programmes and interventions to address the underlying causes of their offending.
Rehabilitation programmes and interventions provided at OCF fall into four main categories: motivational, cognitive-behavioural, employment and education, and reintegrative.
Motivational programmes
Motivational programmes are designed to increase motivation and to encourage and prepare prisoners to confront the causes of their offending.
There are two primary motivational programmes used at OCF: the Tikanga Maori Programme and the Short Motivational Programme.
Tikanga Maori programmes use Maori philosophy, values, knowledge and practice to help prisoners increase their understanding of their Maori identity and their values, and improve their self-esteem to help them become motivated to address the causes of their offending.
The Short Motivational Programme aims to increase motivation by increasing a prisoner's problem awareness and recognition, reducing ambivalence, addressing cognitive distortions, and helping them consider options and formulate goals.
Cognitive-behavioural programmes
Cognitive-behavioural programmes aim to reduce re-offending by helping prisoners address the causes of their offending and teach them to identify, analyse and solve problems and make decisions to better their lives.
Prisoners also learn how to understand the consequences of their actions and gain control over their own behaviour.
OCF provides prisoners with two general cognitive-behavioural programmes for prisoners.
The Medium Intensity Rehabilitation Programme is designed for prisoners in the middle risk range - those not considered high risk but still enough of a risk to warrant rehabilitation.
The programme increases problem awareness and recognition, reduces ambivalence, addresses cognitive distortions, and teaches prisoners to consider options and formulate goals.
The Short Rehabilitation Programme is a brief rehabilitation programme aimed at a smaller number of prisoners who require rehabilitation but do not have enough time in their sentence to complete a longer programme.
The programme is similar to the Medium Intensity Rehabilitation Programme but is shorter and more intense.
Both the Medium Intensity Rehabilitation Programme and Short Rehabilitation Programme target a range of prisoners and are designed to cover the common elements of all offending.
Prisoner employment
Prisoner employment, managed by Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE), plays an integral part in rehabilitation as it provides prisoners with essential work skills and habits.
The last prison census in 2003 found more than half of prisoners were not in paid employment prior to sentencing.
Prisoner employment increases the chance prisoners will find sustainable work on release and research shows this will result in a decreased number of prisoners being reconvicted.
OCF offers three main types of employment:
• internal self-sufficiency activities such as food preparation, laundry and ground maintenance
• business-like industries, including a dairy farm
• work parties in the local community.
Prisoners are able to earn Unit Standards under the National Qualification Framework, allowing them to work towards qualifications whilst they are engaged in employment and training.
Minimum security prisoners who are nearing release may also be eligible to participate in Release to Work.
Release to Work is a form of temporary release that allows prisoners to be in paid work in the community during the day.
It provides prisoners with a stable work record and the job is often carried on after a prisoner's release.
Education
There is a strong relationship between a lack of education and criminal behaviour.
At the time of the last prison census in 2003, 51.7 per cent of all prisoners had no formal qualifications.
Educational achievement and participation can equip prisoners for self-sufficiency and reduce the barriers to living an offence-free life.
A prisoner can enrol in any subject or education programme they consider themselves capable of achieving.
There are four main types of education offered to prisoners at OCF:
In addition, computer and hobby classes are also available.
Reintegration
Reintegration programmes aim to address problems likely to increase a prisoners' risk of re-offending on release.
Being imprisoned can have significant social consequences for a prisoner.
They are likely to have lost their job and accommodation, they are unlikely to be able to support their families and their relationships can be adversely affected in other ways.
Combined, this can lead offenders into a cycle of institutionalisation.
OCF provides two reintegrative programmes:
• Living Skills, which is a broad-based programme to give prisoners skills and knowledge on how to function effectively in society on their release
• Parenting Skills, which is a group programme designed to teach parenting and relationship skills.
Reintegration case-workers also work with high-need prisoners at OCF to address their specific reintegrative needs and help them prepare for release in the community.
OCF also has Self-Care Units where longer-serving prisoners may be eligible to spend time as they near release.
These are residential-style units inside the prison that let prisoners get used to living in a flatting type environment and give prisoners an opportunity to learn and practise the skills they will need to live independently after release.
The Living Skills Programme is also delivered in the Self-Care Units and many prisoners participate in the Release to Work programme.
The Ministry of Social Development have Work and Income work brokers and case managers permanently based at OCF to help prisoners nearing release find suitable work before they are released.
Prisoners who find sustainable employment on release are less likely to re-offend.
Working with the community
The community has an important role to play in the rehabilitation and transition of prisoners back into the community by supporting and encouraging prisoners to live an offence free life.
Many sectors of the community are involved in rehabilitating offenders and helping them move back into the community.
OCF has developed a relationship with local iwi representatives Otakou. In their role as guardian or Kaitiaki, Otakou were actively involved in the development and construction of OCF and have an ongoing connection to it through the rehabilitation and reintegration programmes that operate at the prison.
OCF also works with a number of support agencies, including New Zealand Prisoner's Aid and Rehabilitation Society (NZPARS),
Prison Fellowship and the Salvation Army to support the successful reintegration of prisoners into the community.
A large number of people also regularly donate their time, energy and expertise as volunteers with OCF.
Volunteers provide invaluable support for prisoners and their families and give prisoners the opportunity to spend their free time constructively through music, art or sport.