Another year has flashed by. It’s had its challenges, but we can take pride that it’s been a watershed year in which we’ve established the platform for improved offender rehabilitation for years to come.
The year’s focus on employment and rehabilitation saw the opening in October of a new drug treatment unit in Christchurch, bringing the total number of beds available to 112. Three more units are planned over the next 18 months, and these will double our current capacity to offer these programmes.
The Prisoner Employment Strategy was also launched with a key goal being to improve work opportunities for prisoners when they have completed their sentences. The aim is to have 160 prisoners on Release to Work activities by July 2007, compared with 76 now and 25 only a few months ago. I see this as a strong beginning.
We also made big strides in increasing the chance of a smooth transition back into community living for many longer term prisoners, with the establishment of reintegration teams working in collaboration with Work and Income. These are already providing case management services, including prerelease employment search assistance, that will improve the likelihood prisoners will find work on release. We look forward to expanding this as our experience of what works best grows.
Perhaps the most pleasing thing for Corrections is the work that’s being done to keep people out of prison altogether in the wider Justice sector Effective Interventions strategy. Corrections has the key role of implementing a new range of community-based sentences and Probation and Offender Services has begun to recruit the 200 new frontline staff who will be needed in the next 18 months to manage them.
Despite these achievements, there are things we can look back on with sadness, particularly the untimely death of Liam Ashley. Although he was in the custody of a private sector contractor, Corrections was still responsible for his safety, whether or not he was in our direct care.
We also had a widely-publicised hostage incident. Fortunately, these incidents are very rare, but they do highlight that our staff do face the possibility of harm and very often it’s their common sense and good judgement that ensure that the number of serious incidents in prisons and in our community remain at a very low level.
Earlier this month we had the pleasure of hosting the 26th Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators. This is the third time New Zealand has done this in the event’s 26-year history.
It’s interesting to note that we are not alone in the challenges we face. Despite the varied environments of the countries represented, most were grappling with full prisons, drugs and the need to reduce re-offending.
I was impressed by the commitment of everyone present at the conference to do their best for their countries. Despite the pressures we work under, everyone in the Department can be rightly proud of the achievements this year and of a job well done.
With that thought in mind, I would like to thank you and wish you and your families the very best over the festive season … and please take care if you are travelling.
Barry Matthews
Chief Executive
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ISSN 1178-8453