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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 11:39 pm
Time: 11:39 pm
Results for prisoner reintegration (new zealand)
1 results foundAuthor: Gilbert, Jarrod Title: Reintegration Services in the Canterbury Region Summary: The idea for a study of reintegration services came from the work of the Howard League in Canterbury prisons. In particular, prisoners often worried that there were inadequate programmes and services to help them leave prison and prevent them from returning. We began with a focus on the relationship between prisons and NGO services, and this focus was maintained throughout the study. Further themes emerged, especially the broad philosophical, targeted service reorganisation taking place within the Department of Corrections. We found ourselves researching within a maelstrom of changing systems and relationships, which were often imperfectly articulated and imperfectly understood by various participants in the prison and community sectors. Key findings arising from the study include: - There is a consensus in the Department of Corrections management in Canterbury that cooperation between the Department and NGOs is desirable to assist in the rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners, with the ultimate goals of reducing prisoner numbers and creating fewer victims of crime. - This cooperation between state and independent agencies is mirrored in certain jurisdictions around the world, and from these we can gain certain insights, namely: the importance of mutual 'buy-in' to end goals and the means to achieve them; the necessity for clear and honest lines of communication; and a need for NGO professionalism to be balanced against the risk of NGOs losing their unique and important points of difference that make them effective. - Corrections management have embraced a culture of change and their thinking is sophisticated, though the process is ongoing. - Much of this culture change can generally be understood as moving away from a system with a focus on confinement and toward one with a greater focus on rehabilitation and reintegration. The latter is captured by use of the term 'transitioning' to describe the move from prison to the community. - Acknowledging financial constraints, there was a desire among management to offer more services to prisoners and to 'front load' services rather than waiting until the end of the sentence is nearing, and to engage with prisoners on short sentences. - Management realised that there was a need for better engagement with NGOs. - Prisoners interviewed for this project included men and women with a range of sentences and risk profiles. - The vast majority of prisoners reported a willingness to change away from criminality, with 80 percent of the prisoner sample reporting that they wanted to change 'a lot' about their lives. Recidivism rates, however, show that most will fail. - These prisoners said offending occurred for a number of psychological and practical reasons, many of which can be targeted by programmes and interventions. - The three most prominent types of assistance required were: support and counselling, employment, and alcohol and drug support. - Among prisoners, there was a low level of understanding about what support was available and often there was conflict reported between what prisoners thought they needed and what Corrections was offering them. - The majority of prisoners reported that they heard about programmes or courses mainly from other prisoners, and only a third through Corrections or Probation. - Relationships with Case Officers were largely good, but relationships with Case Managers were mixed, and included a number of very negative experiences. Details: Canterbury, NZ: Howard League for Penal Reform, Canterbury Branch, 2014. 67p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 3, 2015 at: http://www.howardleague.org.nz/uploads/1/1/6/3/11633778/final_report.pdf Year: 2014 Country: New Zealand URL: http://www.howardleague.org.nz/uploads/1/1/6/3/11633778/final_report.pdf Shelf Number: 134518 Keywords: Prisoner ReentryPrisoner RehabilitationPrisoner Reintegration (New Zealand)RecidivismReoffending |