Notes of the meeting held in Mayfair House, Wellington on Friday 1 May 2009.
Present:
Michael Lovett (Chair) Manager Development, Rehabilitation
Rachel Leota Manager Service Development
Diane Hallot National Advisor, Volunteers
David Major National Director, PCSANZ
Barry Timms Operations Manager, PFNZ
Basil Wakelin National Director, PFNZ
Apologies for absence: Phil McCarthy, General Manager, Rehabilitation. Lyanne Kerr, National Director, PARS
In the absence of Phil McCarthy, Michael Lovett opened the meeting at 1.00pm by welcoming everyone present.
Accuracy
The minutes of the meeting held on 13 February 2009 were confirmed as an accurate record.
Matters Arising
Volunteer Coordinator appointments
The meeting noted that there were still recruitment difficulties in Auckland for the Volunteer Coordinator position at ARWCF and Spring Hill. The South Island Coordinator has been appointed and started on 27 April 2009 – Anya Whiting.
Location of Church services
Issues at Ngawha have largely been resolved.
Recruitment of Maori Advisors
Names and contact details were appended to the minutes of 13 February 2009.
Prison Chaplaincy
David Major updated the meeting on the progress of the revised manual for prison chaplains. This should be available in the next few weeks. Copies of the new Volunteer Handbook will be given out at the next chaplaincy conference to take place in mid May. Colin Ryder, Contract Manager, to attend the conference.
Action – Diane Hallot to review the revised Chaplaincy Manual when completed.
Angel Tree
No information on the Angel Tree process at Hawkes Bay Prison had been forthcoming.
Action – Diane Hallot to continue to follow up with Vicky Mavin, Volunteer Coordinator.
Diane Hallot tabled a brief Volunteer Progress Report. The latest report showed there were 4339 approved volunteers including Kaiwhakamana and Fautua Pasefika. This is an increase of 5% on February 2009’s figure of 4152.
It was reiterated that volunteer groups and volunteers would require adequate lead-in time when it was decided to re-open Wellington Prison. Rachel Leota informed the meeting that the predicted date for the opening was still 1 July 2009 and planning towards this date should continue.
Diane Hallot confirmed that the new Handbook for Prison Volunteers had been sent to all existing volunteers with the latest edition of CorrVolunteer. It had also been mailed out to those who had requested it via email. New volunteers would receive their copies of the handbook at their induction training and it would be uploaded onto the Corrections website. Chaplains would all receive a copy at the Prison Chaplaincy conference.
Diane Hallot informed the meeting that the Volunteer Induction Training package, which included the “Staying Safe” presentation, had been signed off and distributed to all Volunteer Co-ordinators for use. The training sessions are expected to take around 2? hours in total. Rachel Leota confirmed that “Staying Safe” would replace “Getting Got” for the induction of Sycamore Tree programme participants.
Volunteer Awareness Week (14 to 20 June 2009) was discussed. Diane Hallot mentioned that Rimutaka would host a “bring a friend” morning tea and showcase the work of existing volunteers. Waikeria Prison would host an open day and prison tour. Internal and external Communications units would highlight volunteers and activities.
Diane Hallot noted that Volunteering NZ would be recognising and encouraging the work of youth this year as the volunteering efforts of young people are crucial for the future of New Zealand communities. The purpose of VAW is to raise awareness of volunteering and to encourage first-timers to give volunteering a go.
Basil Wakelin mentioned that some prisons had difficulty recruiting volunteers owing to their distance from main centres. Word of mouth and prison open days were often the best ways of encouraging new volunteers. It was discussed whether prisoners or prisoner committees were ever surveyed to find out what services they considered valuable.
Action - PARS, PCSANZ and PFNZ to send Diane Hallot information on their planning for Volunteer Awareness Week activities.
Basil Wakelin tabled his paper of prison access issues. The meeting discussed the reasons for the difficulties and explored whether it was widespread. Inconsistency and the absence of a national standard was highlighted as a problem. It appears Waikeria has now begun making their own ID cards. These are simply laminated cards and the opportunity for security breaches was raised. Christchurch Prison had elected to continue with its own local procedure and most new prisons issued Corrections ID. Some prison visitors possessed neither a photo driver licence or a passport which made access difficult. Rachel Leota mentioned that the 18+ card is also acceptable.
Diane Hallot confirmed that National Office regularly deals with a variety of access issues, not only from volunteers, but also from programme providers, academics and other visitors to prisons. The benefits of a nationally consistent ID system for all non-employees of the Department were discussed at length.
Action – Diane Hallot to draft a paper for PSMT endorsement, recommending ID options to facilitate ease of access to approved prison visitors.
a. The issue of the “8 to 5” regime and its impact on programmes and volunteer activities was raised once again. Basil Wakelin tabled a letter to the Minister in which he had raised concerns about the “8 to 5” regime and double bunking, highlighting their potentially negative impact on prison life and prisoner behaviour. The meeting raised concerns that valuable volunteers may be lost and the quality of interventions could be compromised. Rachel Leota confirmed that the 8 to 5 regime currently only applied to high security units and at all of Waikeria Prison. Further consideration may be given to this matter after the outcome of the value for money review is known.
b. David Major updated the meeting on the prisoner art competition and exhibition. The art work submitted this year is of a particularly high standard. The Department’s Communications Unit will be covering the event.
c. David Major asked if it was likely that training about the importance and volunteers and their activities was to be given to prospective Corrections Officers at ITC. Rachel Leota explained that training time was limited and that it was difficult even to fit in all the core curriculum. David asked if PCSANZ and PFNZ could deliver this training at unit and prison meetings. Diane asked if this was not something that the Volunteer Coordinators should be doing, since they had been tasked with internal promotion of volunteering. The meeting agreed that this was a good way forward, and one of the stakeholder groups’ representatives should always attend if possible.
d. Barry Timms and Basil Wakelin tabled a noting paper and discussed the PFNZ “Target Communities” project. This is a long-term project. At this stage, awareness of the project is required and chaplaincy support is currently being discussed with David Major.
Dates for the next two PVAG meetings were confirmed and agreed.
Friday 24 July 2009 at 1.00pm
Friday 16 October 2009 at 1.00pm
There being no further business to discuss, the meeting closed at 2.45pm.