The recent situation where a Corrections officer was taken hostage has led to renewed interest in the ongoing safety of staff, with the PSA calling for an ‘independent inquiry’. The full investigation being undertaken by the Police as well as the one underway by my internal audit team - which operates independently of the prison service - should provide important insights which we can draw on in preventing future incidents of this nature.
Fortunately, these situations occur very infrequently. Nevertheless, the possibility of facing harm in the course of their normal duties is present for most Corrections staff who work with offenders, particularly in prisons, but also in the community. And yet the vast majority of them go about their responsibilities with a diligence and commitment which is laudatory.
The Corrections annual report was tabled in the House earlier in the month. It shows a Department in good heart which has put in a solid year’s performance and made a number of gains against key deliverables. The efforts and professionalism of staff have contributed to these results. I acknowledge your efforts.
Overall, serious assaults on staff are down, as are escapes when increases in prisoner numbers are taken into account. Interception of contraband is up from 698 items confiscated from prison visitors in 2003 to 1,509 in 2005. General random drug screening tests conducted in 2005/06 increased by 5% from 2004/05. However, the number of tests returning positive results continued a downward trend from 17% in 2004/05 to 15% in 2005/06.
Earlier this month the Minister opened a new drug treatment unit at Christchurch Prison, bringing the number of beds available to 112. Three more units are planned over the next eighteen months, greatly enhancing our capacity to offer drug rehabilitation programmes.
At the same time, changes have also been made to the mix, design and structure of the Department's suite of criminogenic programmes to make them more effective.
Working with Work and Income, prisoner reintegration teams have been established to provide much needed employment case management and work broker services to prisoners prior to release, with the aim of increasing the likelihood of prisoners finding suitable employment after release. This initiative goes hand in glove with the launch of the Prisoner Employment Strategy which reflects the importance of post-release employment in reducing reoffending. A key element of the Strategy is an enhanced release to work programme. During 2005/06, an average of 25 prisoners was engaged on release to work activities with over 39,660 hours worked. The aim is to increase this to an average of 80 prisoners and 112,800 hours by February 2007 and to 120 prisoners and 169,200 hours by July 2007.
Home detention has continued to be an effective communitybased sentence in terms of very low rates of breaches of home detention conditions. The percentages of offenders who did not abscond from home detention and who complied with special conditions exceeded expectations at 99% and 93% respectively, compared with targets of 98% and 80%.
So our annual report shows that we’re doing well. New challenges will continue to arise but I am confident that we are well placed to meet them.
Barry Matthews
Chief Executive
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ISSN 1178-8453