Christmas cheer at Arohata - a prisoner
talks to her family on the phone.
For most kiwis, December means the silly season - parties, trying to get the Christmas shopping done, summer holidays, and time to catch up with friends and whanau.
But in a department like Corrections, where in most ways business must carry on as usual, concessions to the festive season must be carefully thought through. Public safety and security can’t be compromised and essential services must always be available.
For offenders in prison, Christmas is usually a low-key affair, with a special Christmas menu cooked by Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE), the opportunity to attend a church service, and the possibility of organised sports.
Arohata Women’s Prison Manager Rocky Paterson says Christmas can be a difficult time for prisoners - especially women with children.
“Sometimes women can become upset, especially those with children or those with bad memories of Christmas, but when this happens the staff use active management techniques - they talk to them and support them, and do a great job in dealing with these types of issues.”
Prisoners do not have visits on Christmas Day, but Rocky says the women will be unlocked at the normal times and can use the unit pay phones to ring their families.
“We still have to run the prison, but we try to make things as normal and pleasant as possible. As well as calling home, some of the women like to make and hang decorations, and this year carol singers from a church group are coming in.”
Rocky says the prison provides a list of pre-packaged Christmas cakes for prisoners to buy, and allows prisoners to buy a few more ‘extras’ such as soft drinks. Prisoners can receive approved Christmas presents, such as books and magazines, but normal security checks apply.
This year, around 250 prisoners nationwide will be released up to two weeks early under the Early Release section of the Parole Act 2002. This is done because their release dates fall during the Christmas period (December 15 - January 5).
Reintegration Project Manager Rachel Leota says early release is good practice in terms of easing prisoners back into society and helping to prevent re-offending.
“If a prisoner’s release date falls on a public holiday, and we released them on that day, they would be unable to access services such as Work and Income or housing services as these close down over Christmas.
“Also, some prisoners are lucky enough to have supportive families to go to on release, but many don’t, and at Christmas-time especially, families may go away or be unavailable.
“So we release these prisoners a few days early to ensure they have time to transition back to the community and make use of the support available to them.”
While the bulk of offenders managed by Corrections never see the inside of a prison, they do serve their sentences in the community.
Over 30,000 people will be serving community-based sentences over the Christmas period, but Assistant General Manager of Community Probation & Psychological Services (CPPS) Tracy Mellor, says the time of year makes little difference to the administering of these sentences.
“People serving community work sentences might get a break of a week or so, but all other services, such as the monitoring of people on home detention, go on as usual,” she says.
Wholesome, but not extravagant: This Christmas, lunch for prisoners will be roast chicken and veges, and a fruit mince pie as shown. Breakfast will be the usual toast, cereal and yoghurt, while Christmas dinner will be roast beef and ham with salads and fresh fruit. Corrections generally budgets $4 a day to feed each prisoner, with the Christmas menu costing just over $6.
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ISSN 1178-8453