Investment in rehabilitation delivering results

The Government’s commitment to rehabilitating prisoners is contributing to a levelling off in the prison muster, says Corrections Minister Judith Collins.

“The number of prisoners behind bars has been tracking well below forecast over the last few months and there are now 270 less people in prison than expected,” says Ms Collins.

“At the same time, we have record numbers of prisoners involved in drug and alcohol treatment, employment and work skills training, as well as numeracy and literacy education,” says Ms Collins.

“It is not a coincidence that the growth in the prison population has stabilised over the same period that we have significantly increased the amount of rehabilitation provided in prison.

“I would have expected that after years of unrelenting growth in the prison population commentators like Kim Workman would be applauding the Department’s efforts on rehabilitation instead of quoting out of date figures.

“Mr Workman is correct that 61 percent of prisoners who were released in 2007/08 were reconvicted within two years of release. Unfortunately, he neglects to say that since this time the level of rehabilitation in prisons has increased significantly.”

Ms Collins says that in 2009/10 Corrections spent $137.5 million on rehabilitation and reintegration. This is 15 percent of the Department’s budget.

“We will continue to provide more of these rehabilitation programmes to greater numbers of prisoners because they are proven to work – Corrections’ Drug Treatment Programme has been shown to reduce re-offending by up to a third.

“It makes sense that if you get a prisoner off drugs, teach them to read and write and help them develop a good work ethic you reduce the risk of them committing crime when they leave prison.”