The purpose of this Structured Day section is to provide operations staff with guidance and rules to ensure prisoners spend 90 percent of their unlock time on structured and supervised activities.
The 10 percent of unsupervised time not covered by the structured activities can be used for personal activities, such as letter writing, and will be in the last part of unlock (evening).
Service Outcome
Provide a structured day for eligible prisoners which involves a co-coordinated schedule of programmes, employment, constructive activities and activities of daily living, for at least 90% of the unlock hours of each prisoner in order to:
- Minimise tensions by making an prisoners day full.
- Contribute to the Department’s mission of reintegration and rehabilitation of all prisoners through provision of rehabilitative and reintegrative programmes and employment attendance where consistent with security issues or any behavioural modification regimes.
Definitions
Structured Day
- The means for promoting the constructive use of 90 percent of a prisoner’s unlock in order to maximise the efficient management of custodial management requirements and activities.
- The purpose of Structured Day is to ensure prisoners spend 90 percent of their unlock time on structured and supervised activities.
- The 10 percent of unsupervised time not covered by the structured activities can be used for personal activities, such as letter writing, and will be in the last part of unlock (evening).
Activity Provider
Person managing the scheduled activity, e.g. CIE Instructor, programme facilitator, other contracted or external provider.
Offence-Related Intervention Activities
Programmes addressing factors associated with offending.
Education and Reintegration Activities
Programmes such as a reintegrative programme, NCES or other education based activities.
Employment Activity
Employment in activities such as land-based activities, manufacturing activities, internal self-sufficiency activities, Release to Work, Vocational Training Services, and Community Service.
Daily Living Activity
Activities such as meals, prisoner personal needs, hygiene and general unit requirements.
Constructive Activity
Any other identified activity apart from Offence Related Intervention Activity, Education and Reintegration Activity, Employment Activity, and Daily Living Activity.
Unit-based Employment Activity
Tasks such as unit / shower / toilet cleaning, mess duties, kit locker, laundry and gardening as identified in the job descriptions (developed by PS for these positions).
Other Approved Activities
Other activities which are necessary (such as visits or court appearances – but which, by their nature do not form part of a sentence plan.
Scheduled Activity
An activity scheduled in the prisoner’s sentence plan.
Guiding Principles
The following Structured Day principles are to be applied in planning and managing prisoner sentences:
- 90 percent of prisoners’ time is spent on structured activities and priority should be given to employing prisoners or addressing sentence planned interventions.
- Scheduling of activities is dependent on the individual offender need, the offenders’ suitability for daytime activities such as offence related interventions or employment and the availability and timing of these activities.
- In general, education and reintegration programmes should occur during evenings or weekends.
- All other structured activities, including employment and offence related interventions can occur at any time.
- The Structured Day is applicable to all remand and sentenced prisoners.
- Current business rules and procedures apply.
- The needs of prisoners in terms of gender and cultural issues must be met where practicable within available resources.
- Prisoners must undertake the activities identified in their sentence management plans.
- Prisoners must be made available for scheduled activities.
- Scheduled time for activities is owned by the Activity Provider.
- Custodial staff must manage any competing activity demands in consultation with the Activity Provider.
- Prisoner routines must match, as closely as possible, daily routines in the community.
- All legislative requirements must be met.
- Business rules for sentence management, including assessment of needs, prioritisation and scheduling rules, must be complied with.
- Daily Living Activities must be undertaken at scheduled times.
Activities in a Structured Day
The target for the structured day will be to ensure that prisoners will be engaged in the following activities for 90% of unlock time, based on their sentence plan:
- Activities of Daily Living (ADL’s)
- Reintegrative Programmes
- Rehabilitation Programmes (sentenced Prisoners only)
- Prisoner Employment
- Structured and supervised Constructive Activities.
- No more than 10% of unlock time is to be used by Recreation activities.
