It goes without saying that if offenders can get a job when they leave prison, they are much more likely to make a successful reintegration into the community.
For this reason, Corrections’ focus in recent years has been on developing work skills that meet the needs of employers, and not just on providing activity that simply fills in time.
Corrections currently operates 140 small to medium sized businesses which employ approximately 1500 prisoners in a variety of occupations each day. These include nurseries, forestry work, farming, timber processing, joinery, concrete fabrication, engineering, metalwork, printing, tailoring, prison kitchens, and laundries. The aim is to develop workskills and help prisoners gain qualifications that will be of use to them and potential employers.
Around 30 prisoners who worked in the pre-cast concrete yard at Auckland Prison have gained employment in the last year. But we know we can do a lot more, and the Prisoner Employment Strategy 2006-2009 unveiled by the Minister of Corrections is a blueprint for action that charts a path forward in doing this.
This involves a ground up review of the organisational structures in which we deliver work and training programmes, related information systems and the external relationships that are vital in bringing work opportunities and education to prisoners. A particular focus will go on developing workskills for Maori since they comprise around half our prison population. Reimprisonment rates for Maori are also higher.
Turning this around is no small challenge. In 2003, less than half the offenders entering prison were in paid employment.
Contributing to this were a lack of qualifications, substance abuse problems, as well as limited employment expectations prior to imprisonment.
So, in addition to getting prisoners qualified for work, we’ve also got to develop a work ethic in many of them.
As I said, there is a lot we at Corrections can do. But getting offenders back as constructive members of the community relies on employers and the public being willing to support them on release to work as well as with jobs.
This is not just a challenge for us at Corrections, but for all New Zealanders as well.
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ISSN 1178-8453