A fact-finding trip to Canada and the United Kingdom illuminated some effective prison initiatives that could be adopted in New Zealand, says Jane von Dadelszen, General Manager Policy Development.
Among them, Jane saw education programmes in both the UK and Canada which enabled prisoners who had not succeeded at school to study for and sit high school exams.
“We know that people who have high school qualifications are more likely to be employed, and we also know that many offenders have left school without qualifications. Improving education levels makes offenders more able to compete in the mainstream for more highly-skilled jobs once they are released,” says Jane.
She says offering study towards NCEA in New Zealand prisons could be a good supplement to other education and training already offered.
“The aim of the trip was to learn more about corrections in the international context and I was able to talk to people who are grappling with similar problems to New Zealand’s,” Jane says.
In addition to education, the trip focused on prisoner employment, rehabilitation, reintegration, and initiatives for indigenous people. Jane visited prisons, prison management and leading researchers in criminology.
Of note was the high level of diverse employment for prisoners in both countries.
“One English prison is home to a call centre and in Canada there are prisoners servicing military vehicles.”
Jane was particularly impressed by the example of a prisoner-staffed print shop in England. In a partnership with private industry, a printing company had fitted the prison with the latest in digital technology equipment. As well as operating the machinery, prisoners were being taught to maintain it, then being accredited as technicians.
“Canada and England have got the same issues we’ve got and are concerned with prisoner numbers going up. Like us, they want to be doing better with offender rehabilitation and reintegration and there was considerable interest in what New Zealand is doing to rehabilitate Maori offenders.”
Insights gained from the trip will be fed into Corrections’ policy development.
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ISSN 1178-8453