Download Corrections News July 2004 (pdf: 427KB)
Inside:
- New legislation celebrated
- Corrections Power Busters Inmates rally behind 40hr famine
- Reducing Youth Offending Programme celebrates
- Inmates carve for local hospice patients
When Cranford Hospice in the Hawke’s Bay approached the Māori Focus Unit at Hawke’s Bay Prison about creating a carving for the hospice, the inmates were keen to help out.
Patient Care Coordinator at the Cranford Hospice, Roger Parr, who initiated the project, said the hospice was seeking to acknowledge Māori patients with something tangible that could be a source of comfort and strength to patients. The hospice has previously treated inmates and staff who had terminal illnesses, and Mr Parr saw an opportunity to recognise that connection.
Cranford Hospice has a longstanding relationship with the Hawke’s Bay community, providing palliative care services to the region for the past 22 years.
“The carving symbolises engagement with the Māori community by the hospice, following work with local Māori health providers and a focus on becoming more responsive to Māori patients.
“We wanted something special for the hospice, and hope that the carving helps make patients feel more at ease with the hospice environment,” said Mr Parr.
Regional Advisor Māori Service Development Barney Tihema, attributed the success of the project to the staff and prison kaumatua, who played a significant part in helping inmates produce the carving.
“Inmates benefited from the incentive to develop a greater connection with their tikanga, and worked closely with other inmates, staff and kaumatua to achieve the best result.
“The presentation of the carving reflected the positive relationships between the Māori community, the Department, and community organisations such as the hospice,” said Mr Tihema.
The name of the carving is Paparangi, and symbolises the relationship between Ranginui (the sky father) and Papatuanuku (earth mother), primeval parents in Māori mythology.
Where we are at: Corrections Legislation
Chief Executive's Comment
The month of May heralded the passage of the Corrections Act. This legislation has been some four years in the making from inception and replaces the Penal Institutions Act which was some 50 years old. The Act is also intended to complement the Sentencing and Parole Acts, which were passed in 2002, and other major legislative changes affecting the criminal justice sector.
The new Corrections Act will provide a modern framework for the management of corrections and provides a set of clear principles to guide and inform the development of corrections activity over the coming years. While the legislation is generally less prescriptive and more flexible about how things are to be done, it does on the other hand clearly set out in the primary legislation the rights of offenders and in doing so aims to enshrine United Nations minimum standards for inmates.
Our cornerstone contributions to safer communities by protecting the public and reducing re-offending remain unchanged and are embraced in the principles we should have regard to.
Overall the legislation will provide for a more open and accountable system but also one that is capable of being more responsive. Our efforts to address the needs of Māori and Pacific offenders and their communities are supported and will be maintained.
A series of Ministers have been involved in the development of the legislation, addressing the various policy issues that arose during that process and subsequently shepherding the Bill through the parliamentary requirements. I am grateful for their support, commitment and contribution. I also wish to pass on my thanks to the large number of people in this Department who have put in a major effort in sustaining the Bill over the years. I also acknowledge the positive involvement in this project by people from other agencies, not least those in the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office.
The next step is to prepare the supporting regulations, which will replace the existing regulations under the Penal Institutions Act, and in a number of respects, will be different to them. It is expected that this will take around nine months to do and means that we will commence implementation of the legislation early next year. Further information about this will be provided later on.
I am looking forward to the new legislation coming into force and hope that it will provide robust guidance to us for many years to come. Certainly I do not believe there should be any hesitation on our part in endeavouring to fully embrace and deliver on the aspirations entailed in those principles to the greatest extent possible. They represent support for, and advances on, the strategic directions we have been engaged in delivering on in recent years.
Mark Byers
Chief Executive
Key statement made
This year’s key Statement of Intent (SOI) is now out, setting the Department’s goals for the coming financial year.
Linked closely to the long-term Strategic Business Plan, the SOI is one of the Department’s primary guiding documents, says Manager Planning and Monitoring, Kevin Black. “The SOI comes out each year to be tabled in the House of Representatives on Budget Day, which was at the end of May, so in terms of importance it is up there with the Annual Report,” says Kevin.
“It sets the background and key objectives for the work of the Department for the 2004/05 financial year.
“This is a legislative requirement to forecast our financial performance, our outputs, and information on strategic direction.”
Copies are currently being distributed to all sites, and it is already available on Corrnet.
New legislation celebrated
Correcitons Minister the Hon. Paul Swain and Chief Executive Mark Byers with policy staff (from left): Bronwyn Donaldson, Manager Strategic & Legislative Policy, Jared Mullen, General Manager Policy Develoment and Bruce Asher, Principal Policy Advisor, at a function to celebrate the passage of the Corrections Bill. The Minister thanked staff for their hard work on the Bill, and said replacing the 50-year old Penal Institutions Act was “long-overdue” to bring Corrections into the modern era.
Parliament passed the Corrections Bill at the end of May, and the Governor-General gave it the Royal Assent on 3 June. However, the new legislation won’t come into effect for about nine months, as the commencement date depends on how long it takes for the accompanying regulations to be drafted and enacted.
The changes to the law include the articulation of principles to guide the development of corrections services and policies, and the detailing of inmates’ rights, including: expanding the complaints system to cover offenders on community-based orders or sentences, changes to the prison disciplinary system and an end to contracts for the private management of prisons.
While the changes to the law are fairly significant, many of the provisions simply put existing practices, that were part of the regulations, into the Act.
The Department has developed a comprehensive plan for implementing the Act. Most of the changes affect prisons, so the Public Prisons Service is preparing for changes to manuals, the Integrated Offender Management System (IOMS), training material and publications. The changes to the complaints system also affect the Inspectorate and Probation and Offender Services, and work in these parts of the organisation is well underway to implement the changes.
Invercargill Prison’s heritage status recognised
Invercargill Prison has received its second building heritage award, with the presentation of a special city council citation.
The citation is the first for a building in Invercargill. The section of the prison housing the main entrance already holds category C Historic Places Trust status.
This time the maintenance of the prison’s 200m-long stretch of 94-year-old stonework, and the resulting contribution to the streetscape, turned the eye of the judges.
“The maintenance work was all done within the normal budgeting processes, that is one thing that we are proud of,” says Invercargill Prison Site Manager Geoff Mills.
“When we picked the colour to paint the prison in 2002, we talked to the Historic Places Trust and Invercargill City Council first, so that we could keep it true to the original look.
“We wanted it to be in keeping with the refurbishment of other Invercargill buildings.”
The paints chosen were a pale green and white that reflects the natural stone colouring.
“This award is a credit to all staff and also Assets and Property for their care and attention.”
The award and five civic plaques were presented in mid-June at a ceremony in front of 300 people, and the evening’s speaker was historian Professor Dame Anne Salmond. It is the fifth year that the awards have been held.
The gathering showed community support for the Council’s restorative project, of which Invercargill Prison is proud to be a part, says Geoff.
Dame Cath Tizard presented the prison’s previous award in August 2000, which recognised the building’s significant historical and cultural value to the community.
The Council’s Environmental and Planning Services Directorate uses the annual awards to highlight good use of design in the city, and follows recommendations made by the Invercargill branch of the Historic Places Trust.
From the Ministers Desk
A year on from becoming Minister of Corrections, the Hon. Paul Swain is liking the challenge the portfolio provides.
“I am enjoying the job. It is an important and difficult portfolio that has an incredible amount going on,” says the Minister. In his short time as Minister, the consultation phases for three new prisons (Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility, Otago Region Corrections Facility and Spring Hill Corrections Facility) are nearing completion, while Northland Region Corrections Facility is under construction.
Legislation has been progressed, including the recently passed Corrections Bill, which reflects the modern conditions and approaches to how the Department manages offenders. Also, a new arm of Probation and Offender Services, called Intervention Services, will start delivering a centralised programme of criminogenic and Straight Thinking programmes for offenders in prison or in the community.
In his second year as Minister, Mr Swain’s focus is on initiatives within Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE) and improving reintegrative services.
“The two main goals set by the Government for the Department are to protect the public and reduce re-offending, and at the moment our re-offending rates are too high. Currently one in four offenders is reimprisoned within a year of release. If we could improve this to one in five it means fewer victims, a safer society and a huge saving to the taxpayer. Just as New Zealand has world-class treatment programmes for its sex offenders, I want New Zealand to become a world leader in reintegrative services.”
The existing rehabilitative programmes offered in prison provide a solid base for inmates to turn their life around, says Mr Swain. However, on the reintegration side, greater support from other government agencies, the community, family and friends of inmates is needed to help reduce the risk of re-offending. To help kick-start the Minister’s efforts, extra funding of $1.25 million, increasing to $1.5 million in July 2005, was recently given to prison volunteer organisation, New Zealand Prisoners’ Aid and Rehabilitation Society (NZPARS).
The Minister’s other passion in his portfolio is inmate employment and training. CIE provides inmates with work experience in prison-run industries including farming, forestry and manufacturing.
“I would like to improve training and work opportunities for inmates, so they can gain useful employment upon release. “But once again it is going to take commitment and effort from both the Government and the Department to make it happen,” he says.
However, the Minister is in no doubt that staff at the coalface, whose job is often thankless, are professional and dedicated. “I’ve been to nearly all the prisons in New Zealand and several Community Probation Service offices, and each visit reinforces in my mind the incredible work prison, probation and psychological staff do.
They are the unsung heroes of the service industry. There is no doubt in my mind that Corrections’ staff make a difference and are able to turn some offenders’ lives around,” says Mr Swain.
Corrections
Power Business
Since the Department launched its Energy Strategy last April ongoing power savings have been achieved, not by cutting back on services, but by being smarter with energy use.
Energy Manager, Cees Ebskamp, says that electricity use, calculated on a per inmate average, has reduced by 10 percent since the strategy’s introduction. At head office, electricity used per m2 is down by 30 percent.
In the face of rising energy prices and increasing inmate numbers, Correction’s energy strategy pledges to permanently reduce energy consumption by 15 percent by 2008.
“Many different measures have combined to make the difference,” Cees says.
“We’ve adjusted lighting levels at prison sites and offices, we’ve improved use of our boilers, and water flows to inmate showers have been adjusted. The principle of all these activities is that we’re trying to get the most out of every unit of energy.
“In real terms, because power prices keep going up we’re actually saving more per energy unit.”
One of the strategy’s initiatives is to capture, benchmark and measure energy use. This information can then be used to set realistic and reliable savings targets and energy budgets.
“Together with IT, we’re currently investigating an energy targeting and monitoring software package that will process data on energy use from our prison sites, inmate employment industries and offices. The aim is to produce energy use comparisons per site or facility, taking into account local conditions. It should also verify bills and help us target savings.”
Wise energy use is taken into consideration in all new buildings and facilities the Department is planning, adds Cees.
“The Department is asking its architects to balance cost against sustainable building design, factoring-in features like maximising natural light for heat and proper insulation.”
Cees says another initiative underway is the development of a 10-year supply strategy to ensure buildings and sites are matched with a compatible energy source.
“That means, based on our knowledge of market forces today and other factors, we’ll develop a longer term plan to better cope with fluctuations in energy costs. Gas will not be around forever and the government intends to introduce a CO2 tax in the future.”
Energy is not the only focus of Corrections drive to be an environmentally smart citizen. Next on the agenda, Cees says he will work on a water strategy to address the 10 billion litres of water the Department consumes each year.
Corrections is one of the biggest energy consumers among the government departments, he says. “Energy use might be a ‘behind the scenes’ issue for many people but we’re serious about it.”
Cultural course piloted by probation officers
Tauranga probation officers recently piloted a cultural training package that teaches Te Reo (Māori language) and tikanga Māori (culture and custom).
Called Kia Mau, the programme aims to provide a more responsive approach towards Māori offenders by equipping the country’s 500-plus probation officers with knowledge of Te Reo, tikanga Māori and the principles of New Zealand’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi.
“Feedback from the pilot has been very positive. Of course there’s tweaking to be done, but overall it’s been an enthusiastic response,” says Project Coordinator and Senior Human Resources Adviser, Justine Canning.
There are three stages to the programme. The first stage is a one-day seminar outlining the Department’s Māori Strategic Plan, basic Te Reo and tikanga Māori. It also gives insight to Māori society prior to the 1840 signing of the Treaty.
“The goal of Kia Mau at stage one is to lift staff to a baseline competency in Māori language, culture and the Treaty,” says Justine. Stage two is a two-day seminar, further developing Māori language and culture and introducing the interrelationships that exist between groups within Māori society.
Whanau (family), hapu (extended family), iwi (tribe), and whakapapa (genealogy) are unique constructs and are explored along with marae (meeting house) protocols. The third stage is still being planned and is intended to be an advanced course for staff already competent in Te Reo and tikanga Māori. This stage will also look at ways Community Probation Service (CPS) staff can create strong and enduring relationships with local Māori communities.
Probation officers will complete a training-needs assessment to find out their proficiency in Te Reo and tikanga Māori. Kia Mau will be implemented across CPS over the coming year, and is being considered for other services within the Department.
A new dawn for intervention
Intervention Services became the Department’s newest kid on the block when the service turned fully operational on July 1.
The Service embodies a new approach to working with offenders to reduce their reoffending - a centralised programme delivery unit that runs criminogenic and Straight Thinking programmes for offenders in prison or in the community.
Prior to this date, the Straight Thinking and criminogenic programmes were run in prisons and the community by either trained corrections officers or probation officers.
Now programme delivery is managed by Intervention Services via three regional teams and a national office.
Intervention Services Manager Eve McMahon, says the new structure is designed to take programme delivery to another level.
“The previous system worked well, but we weren’t seeing the overall benefits we know the programmes have the potential to create. We knew we could do better.
“By making Intervention Services a dedicated group focussed solely on delivering consistent programmes, we believe we will get those better results.”
One major advantage over the previous arrangement is that Intervention Services has dedicated training and administration staff, which include two people solely responsible for scheduling programmes nationwide.
This new support mechanism frees up programme facilitators to concentrate on delivering programmes.
“Facilitators have a single focus now.
Their role is to deliver programmes - nothing else. Before we introduced this structure, facilitators had to schedule and deliver programmes alongside their other work as probation or corrections officers.
“Now they can focus full-time on delivering programmes to offenders.” The Service is still making the transition to being a self-contained group. The set-up started with Eve McMahon’s appointment, followed by the rest of the Service’s national office staff and regional programme delivery managers. A number of facilitators have been recruited from within the Department.
“We have arrangements in place with non-Intervention Services staff to deliver programmes during the transition of moving from the old to the new structure,” says Eve. “In some centres we have contracted staff trained in programme delivery and who currently facilitate programmes to continue doing so,” says Eve.
Straight Thinking programme
A 70-hour cognitive skills (”thinking skills”) programme designed to help offenders address one of the main causes of their offending - the lack of critical reasoning required to live effectively in society. It teaches offenders:
- To learn to identify, analyse and solve problems
- Make reasoned decisions
- See situations from the point of view of others
- Predict the consequences of their actions, and
- Communicate in an assertive rather than aggressive manner.
Many offenders attend a Straight Thinking programme before attending a programme that addresses specific needs.
Criminogenic programmes
‘Criminogenic’ means crime-producing, and criminogenic needs are the underlying factors associated with an individual’s offending. The Department’s criminogenic programmes are 100-hour rehabilitative programmes specifically designed to address those factors. These programmes address the specific causes of offending behaviour, teach offenders how to alter the thoughts, attitudes and behaviours that led to their offending, and help them develop strategies for maintaining the changes they have made. They include programmes aimed at drug and alcohol abuse, violence, repeat driving offences and sex offending.
Training a key factor
Training is a big part of the support for facilitators and Intervention Services will have its own training team leader. Eve says the new training programme is a departure from the previous approach and prepares facilitators for the wider role they now have.
Experienced facilitators may make the transition to running both courses within a few months, but a new facilitator could take 12 - 18 months to gain accreditation in both Straight Thinking and criminogenic programmes.
“We’ve taken out the overlap between the different training courses and made the training more modular. So rather than training someone to facilitate Straight Thinking courses, we train them in being a facilitator first.”
Eve says this is designed to give facilitators cultural knowledge and skills, facilitation skills and the underlying psychological theory used in the programmes. “This foundation is essential, as the intervention programmes are all based on sound psychological practice, and it gives the facilitators an excellent basis on which to build their programme skills and knowledge.”
Intervention Services will be developing a system of ongoing support in the field to maintain consistency across the country and give facilitators the opportunity to grow and develop their skills.
“Like the rest of the Department, we’ll continue to evolve to meet changing demands and challenges as they arise,” says Eve. “But we’re starting off in the right direction.”
Eve McMahon, Intervention Services Manager - Eve has spent most of her working life in the health and education sectors, both in New Zealand and overseas. Before joining Corrections in June 2003 as manager of Intervention Services, Eve had been working on workforce development projects and in the planning and funding of health services.
Pam Eru, Northern Regional Manager - Pam started working for CPS in 1996 as a community work supervisor. She later became a probation officer and has also been a service manager, a regional training advisor and was seconded to the Department’s Psychological Service as a trainer and professional supervisor.
Most recently she has been managing the CPS Onehunga Service Centre. Peter Arnold, Central Regional Manager - Peter began working with offenders in 1988 as a Prisoners’ Aid and Rehabilitation Society field worker, joining Corrections in 1998. He’s worked as a probation officer, a programme facilitator and regional training advisor.
Chris Alleyne, Southern Regional Manager - Chris’s background has been in the mental health sector. Since graduating as a psychiatric nurse in the late 1970s, he has managed alcohol and drug services, one of the country’s largest methadone programmes and the Canterbury detox unit. He has also worked in forensic psychiatry.
| Straight Thinking programmes - 2004/05 targets | Inmates | Community-based offenders |
|---|---|---|
|
Number of hours offenders spent at Straight Thinking programmes |
69,300 |
82,880 |
|
Number of offenders who start a Straight Thinking programme |
990 |
1,184 |
|
Percentage of offenders who complete a Straight Thinking programme to be no less than |
80% |
65% |
| Criminogenic programmes - 2004/05 targets | Inmates | Community-based offenders |
|---|---|---|
|
Number of hours offenders spent at criminogenic programmes |
105,400 |
73,190 |
|
Number of offenders who start a criminogenic programme |
700 |
783 |
|
Percentage of offenders who complete a criminogenic programme to be no less than |
75% |
65% |
WHAT’S NEW IN THE LITERATURE
Ensuring the Quality of Correctional Programmes: the Canadian Model
A recent article in the Correctional Service of Canada publication Forum on Corrections Research(1) (links to reference on this page) describes how the Canadians are ensuring that both the quality of the programmes which are provided to offenders, and that the delivery of those programmes are of the highest quality.
Building on experience gained in Her Majesty’s Prison Service and the Scottish Prison Service, the Canadians have developed a two-step process involving both the accreditation of programmes and sites for the delivery of these programmes.
A panel of experts assesses each programme against a set of criteria. The first three criteria require a theoretically sound justification for the programme involving an empirically-based model of change, the targeting of criminogenic needs, and the use of effective methods.
The next two criteria assess essential elements of the programme design and ensure that it is skills-oriented and addresses responsivity issues. The next two criteria deal with issues of integration related to the offender’s needs associated with offending, and subsequent portions of the offender’s sentence. These centre around programme integrity and continuity of care.
Finally, programmes are required to have mechanisms in place for ongoing monitoring and evaluation.
All of these criteria are supported by a body of research literature, and they capsulate what is known about effective correctional practice. Having met these criteria, however, there is a further threshold which programmes must achieve before their delivery can be supported by the Correctional Service of Canada.
This is the site accreditation, where those sites where programmes are delivered are visited by panels of experts with specialist skills in relation to the specific programmes under consideration. Utilising a variety of assessment processes, including interviews with staff and offenders, and review of programme documentation and files, the site accreditation panel assures itself that the quality of programme delivery is of a sufficient standard for the programme to warrant accreditation at that site.
Naturally, not all programmes meet such stringent review processes, but the process of programme and site accreditation is both transparent and impartial and as such provides firm guidance to policy makers and providers as to the standard of service required for support by the Correctional Service of Canada.
Offender grabbing chance of new life
Napier Probation Officer Graham Booth is currently working with the biggest success story of his 34-year career.
Through the Community Work sentence, he has seen ‘Wallace’ leave behind almost 70 convictions and a 25-year history of offending, dating back to his teenage years, to become a well-respected member of his community.
While working off his sentence of 250 hours in the grounds of a local school, Wallace so impressed the school’s headmaster that he was offered regular parttime employment.
Now the former gang member is working a full-time 40-hour week as a groundsman, with payment being provided through the school, and helping others follow in his footsteps.
That is a long way from doing the bare minimum to complete his Community Work sentence, which requires the offender to make reparations to the community through unpaid work.
“I have never dealt with a success like this,” says Graham. “With some people, just to get them out of bed three or four times a week is a success.”
For Community Work, all offenders are assessed as either suitable for an agency placement, based with an organisation in the community; or for a work party placement, doing work projects under the supervision of a community work supervisor.
Graham says Wallace has responded to the opportunity and now has a significant role in the school community.
“He’s building a confidence course at the school, and is sorting out the health and safety issues for the project.”
Wallace is also helping mentor a group of young offenders through the police youth aid section, and is now responsible for overseeing other offenders on Community Work placements at the school.
Meeting dispels myths
A rare meeting between prison inmates and influential members of the community at Christchurch Prison recently shed light on some misconceptions about offenders.
Eight of the prison’s long-term inmates, a number of managers, staff and 61 members of the Rotary Club of Christchurch had the opportunity to ‘shoot the breeze’ over a typical prison dinner.
The Rotarians left the two-hour meeting, held in the prison’s high-security Matai wing, with an improved understanding of prison inmates and the staff who manage them.
Paul Monk, South Island Regional Manager, Public Prisons Service, delivered a presentation that, amongst other things, showed how well New Zealand prisons compare internationally.
However, the emphasis of the event was on informal conversations and a chance to discuss how prisons work and what the community can do to help reduce reoffending.
“The Rotarians now understand what we are about and that we basically do a very good job in managing inmates,” said Paul. “They will be good advocates for us in the wider community and will encourage employers to offer former inmates jobs.”
One inmate, one staff member and half a dozen Rotarians were seated at each table.
“The inmates have backgrounds with serious levels of offending, and spoke about not only why they were in jail but also about why they wanted to go straight,” said Paul.
“During the evening one said to me ‘This is surreal. If you had said earlier that I would be talking to some of the most influential people in Christchurch tonight, I would have been blown away’.”
Rotary Club of Christchurch member Reg Garters attended the dinner, alongside other Rotarians including former city mayor Sir Hamish Hay and some major Christchurch employers.
Reg supported the idea of a mentoring scheme “It would be good if a club like ours could mentor an inmate, and meet with him regularly.
“I believe that if we start with small numbers we could help substantially,” he said.
Inmates rally behind 40 Hour Famine
Over a hundred thousand young New Zealanders participate annually in the World Vision 40 Hour Famine and this year their efforts were bolstered by 20 inmates from Auckland Prison.
Unlike their counterparts on the outside, the participating inmates had to find sympathetic relatives to gather sponsors from friends and neighbours. Despite this restriction, inmates in Wing three of the medium-security section of the prison raised almost $1,000.
Inmates presented a cheque to World Vision representatives Geoff Smith and Elizabeth Tagaloa at a recent ceremony in the prison chapel, attended by Site Manager Bryan Christy, Principal Corrections Officer Mark Bonham and Corrections Officer Jo Leota.
Mr Smith said the contribution made by the inmates was enough to provide over 100 families with clean water for one year or release six children from slave labour in countries like India.
‘Roy’, an inmate, said he decided to help organise the event to encourage other inmates to appreciate the food they received. “This whole event has left us all with an understanding of just how hard it is for those that go for weeks and sometimes for months on only a handful of rice,” he said.
Roy said inmates did not participate for any personal gain but had nevertheless benefited from a huge sense of self-respect and achievement after the event.
He said among the contributors to the impressive fundraising total was a number of legal firms. “It’s nice to see lawyers giving us money for a change,” he joked.
Reducing Youth Offending Programme celebrates first birthday
A major milestone was reached last month when the Reducing Youth Offending Programme (RYOP) celebrated its first birthday.
The Reducing Youth Offending Programme is a joint initiative between Corrections and Child, Youth and Family, targeting 14-18 year-olds who pose a high risk of becoming serious adult offenders.
The programme uses a framework based on Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST). MST is an intensive community-based intervention which works within the whanau/family’s existing environment to achieve sustainable changes that can be maintained by the youth and their whanau/family after completion of the programme.
“We’re really pleased with how the programme is going,” says Christchurch Programme Manager Nick Scott.
“The teams in Auckland and Christchurch are now well established. We’re seeing families and young people committed to staying with the programme and this is a real credit to our case workers.”
“The inter-agency approach is working well, with positive feedback from both probation officers and social workers about the work we’re doing with young people and their families,” says Nick.
The pilot is due to finish in June 2006, with a decision on future directions expected later that year.
Case Study:
RYOP a recipe for success
Expelled from three schools, 17-year-old ‘Tana’ finally found something he was good at - cooking. But his dreams of a culinary career were almost derailed when, in his first year on a chef’s course, he was convicted of assault with a weapon.
Sentenced to 12 months’ supervision with special conditions that he attend the Reducing Youth Offending Programme, Tana is now back on track. Tana lives with his parents and three siblings in west Auckland. His past offending involved assaults and wilful damage, which happened while he was under the influence of alcohol.
Following his conviction he was referred to the programme.
Influencing factors
Using a Multi-Systemic Therapy approach, case workers take into account all factors of an individual’s life - including family, peer group, substance abuse and violence issues.
In Tana’s case, alcohol was a major factor in his offending. Other factors were: inconsistent parenting, a lack of communication within the family, and problems between Tana and his father.
Caseworker Amelda Wilson met regularly with Tana and his family to set weekly goals, and set up interventions such as a daily monitoring plan, behaviour management and family therapy, to improve communication within the family and address relationship difficulties.
Amelda says Tana and his family’s attitude was positive from the outset. His parents were shown how to apply consequences as well as rewards with Tana, and their new parenting skills helped stabilise the whole family.
He stuck to his curfew and stopped drinking. His mother drove him to his course each day, tutors monitored his daily attendance, and his father, a shift worker, ensured he came straight home each afternoon. “They could see the potential in him and wanted to help him,” says Amelda.
Outcome
Amelda says the results of Tana’s case show the programme can work. “He made some real changes and so did his parents.”
Tana’s now completed two levels of his chef’s course and recently gained experience working part-time in an Auckland restaurant. Now 18 years-old, he plans to take on a third year of study and earn his formal qualification as a professional chef.
Australian MPs visit Auckland team
Several members of the Australian House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs recently visited the Auckland RYOP team.
The committee met with several of the case workers, the programme manager and the clinical supervisor to hear about how the programme works ‘in the field’.
The visit was part of a research tour studying New Zealand programmes working to reduce youth offending.
Auckland Prison opens for lawyers
Auckland Prison recently hosted an open day for the Auckland District Law Society, showing 113 lawyers through the prison in one afternoon.
Solicitor Bill Spring, from the Auckland District Law Society, organised the day with Site Manager Bryan Christy, to show lawyers who haven’t worked in criminal law what prison is like.
Mr Spring provides free legal advice to inmates at the prison, and hopes the open day will encourage other lawyers from the society to volunteer as well.
The lawyers were shown through the High Risk unit, D Block, and the Behaviour Management Regime cells by staff, who explained the Department’s history and management of inmates. Another popular request from the visitors was to view the memorial to
Judge Bruce Buckton in the prison grounds. For many lawyers it was their first opportunity to see the reality of prison life. Solicitor Gardenia Atimalala said it was her first visit to Auckland Prison.
“The tour was very informative, it was interesting to see D Block and gain a better understanding of the life inmates lead. I was extremely impressed with how passionate and professional the staff are in their work, overall the staff impressed me the most.”
Mr Christy said the day went smoothly, crediting staff for their efforts facilitating the visit and providing guided tours to the lawyers.
“It was a great opportunity to promote the Department’s focus on rehabilitation and reducing re-offending, and address some of the commonly held misconceptions about how inmates are managed.”
Valued employees remembered
John Jackson and Sydney Ward were valued long-time employees of the Justice Department, and good friends, until they each recently passed away at the ages of 73 and 78 years respectively.
The pair were highly regarded within the Auckland region, where they spent the majority of their working careers. Mr Ward was awarded a Queen’s Service Medal for his work within prisons in 1985, and Mr Jackson received the same award a few years later. The awards reflected both their personal and family ties to the job.
Mr Ward spent 32 years working in prisons. The son of a West Coast goldminer from the now-abandoned town of Waiuta, he rose through the ranks, from being a guard at Christchurch Prison to superintendent of maximum-security Auckland Prison.
Mr Jackson was a fellow South Islander, who was a Dunedin policeman for three years and a member of the Air Force for eight, before starting at Invercargill Prison in 1960.
He worked his way to the rank of Inspector, after a long stint as chief officer at Auckland Prison, where he worked with Mr Ward.
It was a career that ran in the family: Mr Jackson’s father, daughter (current superintendent, Deborah Bradley) and granddaughter have also worked at Mount Eden Prison.
Legislation to increase monitoring of child sex offenders
New legislation has been put in place to increase the monitoring and management of child sex offenders.
The Parole (Extended Supervision) and Sentencing Amendment Act was passed on 30 June 2004. The new legislation will enable the Department to monitor child sex offenders identified as having a high risk of reoffending, for up to ten years after the completion of their prison sentence.
Currently the Department estimates there may be approximately 56 offenders a year eligible for Extended Supervision.
“This legislation recognises that child sex offenders are a particular type of offender. For high and medium-risk child sex offenders, their risk of further offending may not decrease over time,” explains Richard Bargh, Manager Operational Policy, Policy Development.
“Many offenders sentenced before the introduction of the Sentencing and Parole Act 2002, which widened the criteria for Preventive Detention, are serving fixed sentences.
“The Department currently has no ability to monitor these offenders once they reach the end of their parole or release on conditions period. The new legislation will allow the Department to extend the monitoring period for up to ten years after the completion of their original sentences.
“This is an important step to help the Department manage the risk presented by these offenders,” says Richard. “For some child sex offenders, their risk of further offending remains for a lifetime, and for many there is no guarantee that they will not reoffend.
However, long-term monitoring and support can be an effective means of reducing that risk.”
The new legislation is similar to schemes currently operating in Canada and the United Kingdom.
Eligible offenders will be those convicted of child sex offences and assessed as having a high risk of re-offending.
There will be varying levels of monitoring, with the majority being subject to parole-like monitoring conditions. The highest-risk offenders will be subject to electronic monitoring, and in some cases home detention-like conditions. The home detention type conditions may only apply for the first 12 months of the Extended Supervision Order.
The Community Probation Service (CPS) will manage the applications process and monitor those offenders who have been sentenced to an Extended Supervision Order (ESO).
“Initial identification of offenders will be made by Psychological Service staff at Head Office,” says Tracy Mellor, Manager Operational Policy and Planning, Probation and Offender Services.
“Once an offender has been identified as potentially being eligible, the psychologist will carry out a health assessment to determine the level of risk presented by the offender.”
“The next step is for CPS to make an application, through the Crown Law office, to the courts to have an ESO imposed. If that application is granted, the New Zealand Parole Board then has the role of setting any special conditions for the term of the ESO.”
An ESO comes into effect at the end of the offender’s parole or release on conditions. The offender’s probation officer will work with the offender and other agencies to ensure ongoing monitoring and management of the offender and any risk factors.
Complementary legislation providing for increased information sharing provisions is also being passed. These provisions will enable CPS to work more closely with other agencies such as Police, Work and Income, Housing and Child, Youth and Family in the management of the offender.
Bill makes changes to home detention
The Parole (Extended Supervision) and Sentencing Amendment Bill also contains amendments to the home detention scheme.
There are three main changes:
- The Bill emphasises that the sentencing court has the primary role in determining whether home detention is appropriate
- It requires offenders given deferred sentences to be subject to bail conditions and apply for home detention within two weeks of sentencing
- The Bill clarifies that deferral is only to be granted in exceptional circumstances.
Situations such as retention of employment or family relationships would not by themselves be considered exceptional.
The effect of these changes will be to:
- Clarify the responsibilities of the court versus the New Zealand Parole Board
- Increase public safety while applications for home detention are considered
- Reduce the frequency of deferrals.
1 Concilio A (2003), Correctional Programme and Site Accreditation in Canada, Forum on Corrections Research, 15, pp32-36.