Prisoners at Rimutaka, Arohata and Mt Crawford Prisons spent hundreds of hours preparing 200,000 ribbons for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, or White Ribbon Day, on 25 November.
Rimutaka Prison Violence Prevention Unit Manager Pawel Gorczynski says almost all the men in the Violence Prevention Unit volunteered to help make the ribbons.
“The men at the Unit have been specially selected to take part in the violence prevention programme because they’re motivated to make changes in their lives and stop their violent behaviour,” he says.
“The work they do on the programme is very intensive and preparing the ribbons gave them a chance to get together, to do something constructive and talk about their experiences in a relaxed setting,” he says.
One of the prisoners agrees that White Ribbon Day is something most men on the Unit wanted to support. “We’ve all grown up in violence, and got relatives still going through that stuff,” he says.
The thirty-bed Violence Prevention Unit at Rimutaka is the only one in the country. The rehabilitation programme at the Unit is designed to help the men understand their violent behaviour and take steps to reduce the chances of re-offending.
It comprises an introductory six weeks, seven months of intensive cognitive behavioural therapy and a further six weeks of post-treatment assessment. Relapse prevention is built in as the men tend to have histories of using violence as a problemsolving tool.
“The programme helps to pass responsibility for their behaviour onto the offender,” says Principal Psychologist Nev Trainor. “They go all the way back - talking about their families - and the team here support them to do that.”
“The success rate is modest, because violent behaviour is so ingrained and difficult to change. But we do see a reduction in violent offending and general offending of about 10 percent.”
Prisoner volunteers at the Violence Prevention Unit at Rimutaka Prison assemble
ribbons to support White Ribbon Day - International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
The White Ribbon campaign was started in Canada in 1991 by a group of men opposed to violence against women. The movement was introduced to New Zealand by UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women) two years ago and many different government and social sector agencies and voluntary groups are now involved. The white ribbon is worn, particularly by men, as a sign that they will not commit, condone, support, or remain silent about violence against women.
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ISSN 1178-8453