22 June
Twenty-one prisoners at Christchurch Men’s Prison were presented with Level 2 National Certificates in Mechanical Engineering in May, after completing the five month vocational course offered by Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE).
“The prisoners that completed the course earned 1300 credits between them, which represents a significant achievement – and a big commitment,” says CIE Engineering Instructor John Hewitson.
“The Level 2 Certificate goes a long way to providing prisoners with employment prospects in engineering. In addition, it is an NZQA registered course that prisoners can continue to build on with an outside provider, should they wish to continue their studies on release.
“This sort of training offers other tangible benefits to prisoners as well. It can really help improve a prisoner’s attitude and outlook to learn skills in an area that interests them, not to mention the boost it gives them to achieve a qualification at the same time.
“The enthusiasm prisoners have shown for this course has been huge, and as a result CIE are now scheduling the Level 3 Certificate on the training curriculum,” says John.
The majority of prisoners have limited education or work experience. Research shows that prisoners who are able to find sustainable work on release are less likely to reoffend.
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