Human Rights and Prisons - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

5. Activities
Law and policy framework
The Correction Act‟s purpose statement (s5) notes the role of the corrections
system in providing rehabilitation and reintegration. Section 5 provides that
„the chief executive must ensure that, as far as is practicable, every prisoner is
provided with an opportunity to make constructive use of his or her time in
prison‟. It also establishes that a purpose of Corrections is „assisting in the
rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration into the community, where
appropriate, and so far as is reasonable and practicable in the circumstances
and within the resources available, through the provision of programmes and
other interventions‟ (s5(1)(c)).
Issues
The issue of funding and resources are particularly significant. The available
budget for activities such as rehabilitative programmes, work and training,
education, leisure facilties or community reintegration remains relatively small
– it is estimated to constitute less than 12% of Correctional spending in
2010/2011 (The Treasury, 2010). In this respect, Corrections have clear fiscal
limitations on what they are able to provide (this point must be borne in mind
in relation to other aspects of prison life, such as material conditions or health
services).
In addition, the use of imprisonment as a conveyor-belt (with large numbers of
people serving short-term sentences) as well as the increased use of remand
also raise concerns regarding activities. Those serving short-term sentences
and those detained on remand usually have no access to rehabilitative
practices such as education, employment and other programmes – although
Corrections have recently expanded drug treatment programmes to include
short-serving prisoners. Regardless of status, prisoner activities are also
determined by others – prison life is routinised and restricted, with relatively
few opportunities for prisoners to exert choice.
In 2005, the Ombudsmen‟s Office highlighted a disconnection between the
Department of Correction‟s claims about rehabilitative programmes, education
and work opportunities, and how these aspects of prison life were
experienced by prisoners or front-line staff. Since that time, the Department
of Corrections (2008) has stated that it has made improvements in a number
of areas, with:
increased number of prisoners in industries / temporary employment
release;
more prisoners involved in adult literacy/educational courses;
the redesign of rehabilitation programmes;
the expansion of rehabilitation activities;
improved cross-agency services – to prepare prisoners for release.
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