Employment and training opportunities for female prisoners across the Department’s three female prisons – Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility (ARWCF), Christchurch Women’s and Arohata prisons – continue to grow.
National Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE) Manager Brent Maughan, says more than 180 female prisoners, or 40 per cent, are engaged in some type of training or employment.
“We are always on the lookout to engage with local businesses, councils and government to provide more opportunities,” says Brent.
The majority of these prisoners are located at ARWCF, where two exciting new opportunities have recently been established.
“A new partnership with Canon sees 10 prisoners employed in building new photocopiers, by assembling components and installing the appropriate technology. The prisoners also refurbish used machines and dismantle old photocopiers for recycling,” says CIE Area Operations Manager Mark Te Kani.
Mark says groups of 12 prisoners are also undertaking newly established barista training courses which span two weeks and provide prisoners with a NZQA recognised certificate in Barista. Other opportunities include warehousing and distribution at the ARWCF P119 distribution centre, textiles, grounds maintenance, laundries, kitchens and the Release to Work programme.
The P119 distribution centre manages orders placed by prisoners from an approved list of goods, for items such as toiletries. The 14 prisoners working in the warehouse handle ordering and distribution, earning credits towards the NZQA national certificate in Distribution Level 2.
“I have learnt so much working in the distribution centre that will help me when I’m out of prison,” says one prisoner. “I hope I’ll be able to get work like this outside.” Another says: “I’ve got good qualifications working in distribution warehousing. I’ve learnt how to work in a team and as an individual and got skills in forklift, communications and customer service – something I’ve never had to do before.”
At Christchurch Women’s Prison, over 40 per cent of the women are engaged in employment or training. “We have prisoners employed in textiles, kitchens, laundries, grounds maintenance, painting and the Release to Work programme. We also provide training in catering and horticulture for more than 20 prisoners,” says CIE Area Operations Manager, Bill Bird.
Arohata Prison has similar opportunities. “We have over 30 per cent of the women engaged in employment or training, but we are looking to increase this percentage. Prisoners have the opportunity to work in textiles, kitchen, grounds maintenance, painting and within a commercial laundry,” says CIE Area Operations Manager Kathleen Masoe.
CIE regularly assesses shortages in the labour market. “This allows us to develop training programmes which increase the likelihood of the prisoners finding employment once released,” says Brent Maughan. “We are always looking for new initiatives to increase prisoner employment across all our prisons.”
If there is something that your business may need assistance with, please contact cie.worktraining@corrections.govt.nz.
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ISSN 1178-8453