A world of experience to pass on

After working in around 50 countries and travelling through 75, British born Andy Wood decided to stop in New Zealand for a bit. He stayed with his grandparents and worked to save some money. That was 19 years ago.

This year Andy, who has worked in carpentry for 28 years, started as a carpentry instructor at Spring Hill Corrections Facility (SHCF). Andy says, “I wanted to do something practical when I started out as a cabinet maker. And as soon as I got my apprenticeship I started travelling to all kinds of places. I was in Barcelona 18 months before the 1997 Olympic games so lots of building activities were happening and I had plenty to do. Athens was another favourite city I have great memories of.”

After arriving in New Zealand Andy took up jobs as diverse as master crafter for the Wellington City Opera, making boats at Tauranga and producing toys in Hamilton. So he has a lot of knowledge and skills to pass on to prisoners. “In June I started in the Drug Treatment Unit. Before that I was an instructor at both the Refurbishment and the NewBuild yard for a couple of months.”

Bird houses
About five months ago the training was changed to the NZQA approved Building, Construction, and Allied Trade Skills, also known as BCATS. “The main difference with the old training units is that you now have to add a practical project to practise the theory,” says Andy. “For example, the prisoners have just finished making portable tool boxes, and at the moment we are creating bird houses to add to the garden furniture we are making.”

Andy trains eight prisoners in the morning and seven in the afternoon, five days a week. He teaches the first element of the carpentry pathway for medium to low security prisoners. It takes them about six months to get to the next step. Low security prisoners can progress to the Refurb yard, low-medium security prisoners can flow into the NewBuild facility.

The 10 carpentry instructors at SHCF work closely together. Andy says, “They want to know who they can expect in six months time and who will make good foremen.”

Very carefully
When asked how he feels about working with prisoners using saws and screw drivers, Andy says, “Of course I watch them closely but they have far too much to lose and they know it. They get selected very carefully. First of all they have to want to do the carpentry training. Then CIE Site Operations Manager Andy Barr refers them to me for an interview in which I also make it clear to them what the rules are.”

“Because this is the first part of the training and for many prisoners the first kind of proper education they have ever had, teaching them work ethics is just as important as the basic skills. Getting up on time, keeping to their breaks, being part of a team.

"Many of them walk in here with a bit of an attitude. And I just love walking in on that same guy a couple of weeks later and seeing him totally concentrated on waxing a coffee table. Most of the guys I teach have technical talents, they just put it to the wrong use before…The chances are the prisoners I teach will use their skills positively after release.”