Authority for Policy
Services must meet the requirements of all other relevant legislation, regulations, relevant Department of Corrections' policies, and such other instructions as may be issued by the Chief Executive from time to time.
This PPM section is issued by the Chief Executive under the authority of section 196 of the Corrections Act 2004.
Short Description
Active Management is the interaction of staff and prisoners for the purpose of effective sentence management. As such it involves skilled and knowledgeable staff (who understand the specific risks and needs of each prisoner), interacting and responding to prisoners in a positive way in order to achieve the best possible outcomes.
Active Management is the “spirit” of the way things are done, the culture of the staff behaviour, thoughts and attitudes that will affect the way staff approach and manage prisoners. Active management is about influencing changed behaviour.
Active management is activity performed by all staff who have contact with the prisoner (including the case officer).
There are four key components:
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Responsiveness
- Exerting influence.
Service Outcome
Staff using the active management tool are able to:
- Demonstrate the use of the various exerting influence methods: pro-social modelling, personal feedback, positive reinforcement, collaborative problem solving and motivational enhancement.
- Utilise their skills to address conflict situations in their work environment.
- Provide the prisoners with new skills and methods to assist in day-day situations.
The Department’s overarching goal is to reduce re-offending.
Service Delivery Measures
The key measures for determining service levels and for the Department’s external reporting are:
- Number of violent incidents in the prison environment.
- Number of complaints to the Inspectorate or Ombudsmen regarding sentence management issues.
- Number of staff related incidents within the prison environment.
- Number of staff aware and knowledgeable about important changes and events affecting the management of prisoners on their caseload.
- Number of staff actively engaging in the timely and effective progress against sentence plan objectives.
- Number of staff actively displaying motivational enhancement skills.
Eligibility Criteria
- All Prison Staff who have significant contact with prisoners.
Knowledge
Staff who have significant contact with prisoners have displayed the following characteristics of the knowledge component of active management:
- Knowledge of the principles of Sentence Management.
- A thorough understanding of the key sentence plan objectives and the characteristics of the prisoners on their caseload.
- A working knowledge of the objectives for prisoners not on their caseload.
- An understanding of their role in active management.
Communication
Staff who have significant contact with prisoners have displayed the following characteristics of the communication component of active management:
- Actively communicated with other staff on a regular and ongoing basis with regards to prisoner behaviour, actions and progress.
- Actively communicated with prisoners to achieve desired active management objectives.
Responsiveness
Staff who have significant contact with prisoners have displayed the following characteristics of the responsiveness component of active management:
- Proactive willingness to interact with prisoners in a positive, involved and purposeful manner.
- Awareness of and respect for the culture of the prisoner.
- Motivation and energy to deal with prisoners in an ongoing way in relation to sentence plan objectives.
Exerting Influence
Staff who have significant contact with prisoners have displayed the following characteristics of the exerting influence component of active management:
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Pro-social Modelling:
- Respect for rules and authority
- Self control
- Rejection of violence
- Honesty and reliability
- Respect for others.
-
Personal Feedback:
- Provision of commentary on prisoner’s behaviour, providing an opportunity for the prisoner to re-evaluate their ideas, beliefs and behaviour.
-
Positive Reinforcement:
- Responding favourably to instances of positive pro-social behaviour by prisoners.
-
Collaborative Problem-solving:
- Working with the prisoner to find solutions to problems or conflicts using the following broad steps:
- Define the problem
- Identify the goal
- Brainstorm alternative solutions
- Try out the most promising alternative
- Review
-
Motivational Enhancement:
- Working with prisoners utilising the following principles of motivational enhancement to improve motivational levels:
- Having a positive approach
- Establishing rapport with the prisoner
- Having a gently persuasive approach
- Rolling with reluctance
- The following principles are specific to Maori:
- Respect
- Relationships
- Korero
- Whakama
- Incremental approach
