To begin the year by saying we will be busy at Corrections is nothing new. It’s that way every year, although the dynamic environment we operate in often produces quite different and unpredictable challenges.
Every year we successfully manage thousands of the most difficult offenders, who the rest of society has often tossed away into the ‘too hard’ basket. Many of these people are violent, manipulative and systematically attempt to undermine our efforts to keep them safe and give them a better future.
We can be thankful that the vast majority of staff are willingly working in an environment which has these risks and display outstanding dedication and resilience.
Unfortunately, the potential is always there for a small number of staff to succumb to the temptations or be intimidated to engage in criminal activity and in so doing damage the reputation of others and the integrity of the organisation.
Have no doubt that I will ensure all allegations of corruption are pursued with due rigor and strong action taken where it is found to exist.
This year, we will be completing the Head Office and Public Prison Services reviews, opening new drug treatment facilities, expanding our Return to Work programme and administering the greater use of community sentences. The reintegration officers now working in prisons in conjunction with Work and Income will also be helping prisoners in finding work and accommodation when they return to the community.
These are all activities that focus on developing the platform for much improved rehabilitation and reintegration that we laid last year.
We’ve moved a long way. As I was preparing this column, I happened to glance at a Corrections News from April 2002. I think it provided a good counterpoint to where we are now. Back then, the Regional Prisons Development Project was top of mind as we contemplated how to look after a prison population that was expected to rise. The Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility that opened last year was still only a quarry site and the Sentencing Act was a Bill awaiting passage through Parliament with its impact on prison musters still unknown. In fact, there had been a small decrease in the prison population in the early part of 2002, which may help explain just how difficult forecasting prisoner numbers has been for the Ministry of Justice.
In April 2002 we had 2,000 fewer prisoners, and it’s to everyone’s credit that growth close to 40 percent has been managed so well.
A primary challenge was to get the four new regional prisons ready on time. Not only will we have done that when we complete the Spring Hill and Otago Corrections Facilities this year, but there will be 600 more beds than the 1000 the project first envisaged. That’s almost an extra one-and-a-half prisons.
What I find pleasing is that the new prisons have also been designed to facilitate the new emphasis on rehabilitation. Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility is a great example, with the low security section providing as normalised an environment as possible so the women held there can regain lost self-esteem and learn skills that will help them return to the community successfully.
These have been busy and demanding times for everyone at Corrections. We had our challenges last year, but we also laid the foundations for a focus on rehabilitation that had to some extent taken second place to the pressing need to manage offender numbers.
I have no doubt that we will be challenged again this year. But I look forward to joining you all as Corrections refocuses and renews.
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ISSN 1178-8453