Last year ended with some solid achievements in the corrections system due in no small part to its dedicated staff.
By its very nature there will always
be problems in the corrections, and the justice systems. However, Corrections performed solidly in a number of key areas during 2007.
The number of escapes so far this financial year stands at 11, which, just past halfway through the year, is in line with last year’s final figure of 19 – or one sixth of the 1996/1997 total.
This dramatic improvement in public safety follows eight years of significant financial investment by the Government. Over 17 kilometres of new security perimeter fences have been built, single points of entry are now in operation at two-thirds of prisons, and there is a large increase in the use of high-tech security equipment such as cameras and infra red detectors.
We have also seen a significant increase in the number of work and training opportunities for prisoners and places on rehabilitation programmes.
Prisoners worked a total of 5.65 million hours in the 2006/2007 year, not including community service or vocational training. This equates to 1,600 hours per prisoner. Prisoners also gained more than 20,000 NZQA qualifications, in subjects including engineering, printing, horticulture, farming and catering.
The number of places in prison drug and alcohol treatment units has increased dramatically, which by the middle of this year will lead to more than 500 places per year across six prisons.
Almost all prisoners eventually return to the community, so these types of investment are important as we aim to reduce re-offending and make our communities safer for all. Providing prisoners with work skills and habits and useful qualifications improves the prospects of rehabilitating and reintegrating them into society at the end of their sentence.
Other positive results include:
• The number of serious prisoner-on-prisoner assaults (assaults requiring hospitalisation) is now one fifth (reduced by 69 per cent per 100 prisoners) of what it was in 1997/1998.
• The number of serious prisoner-on-staff assaults per 100 prisoners is one 10th of what is was in 1997/1998.
• The number of prisoners in New Zealand prisons is 7,550, as of 18 January, just below the figures at the same time last year. This figure is tracking close to 2006 Ministry of Justice forecasts.
• The Corrections Department has to deal with people who have offended against society and pose the greatest problems and potentially the greatest threats to it.
As in any system, mistakes are made, for which there must and will be accountability. But as the achievements above clearly show, there is a lot about the corrections system that can give the public confidence.
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ISSN 1178-8453