30 April
Six prisoners at Christchurch Men’s Prison have graduated from Matapuna’s Special Treatment Unit (STU) rehabilitation programme, which is aimed at providing rehabilitation to prisoners who are at high risk of violent re-offending.
Matapuna Principal Psychologist Lindon Pullan says the intensive 10-month programme works to reduce re-offending by developing prisoners' insight into their offending and motivating them to develop positive ways of interacting with others.
“Given the entrenched nature of their attitudes and behaviours, offenders in a STU spend more time than in some other programmes, developing goals for living an offence-free lifestyle when released from prison,” Lindon says.
The programme includes 250 hours of group-based therapy that helps prisoners identify their individual risk areas and learn how to manage these risks.
"Once they recognise the factors behind their offending they then must learn methods to manage their behaviour in high risk situations and develop a plan of how to use these skills, to avoid offending and live a more pro-social lifestyle,” says Lindon.
Maptapuna’s STU Rehabilitation programme is run in its own unit to encourage a ‘community of change’ environment to be provided 24 hours a day. When the men are not in the programme they are expected to learn how to live communally, engage in meaningful activities like employment and voluntary activities, participate in community meetings, and take responsibility for the unit in which they live.
The new Matapuna STU facilities opened last month. It is the last of three new STU units built to provide offence focused treatment for high-risk offenders – joining Karaka at Waikeria Prison and Puna Tatari at Spring Hill Corrections Facility and bringing the total number of STUs to six.
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