Human Rights and Prisons - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

Issues
Volunteers can provide a whole host of benefits – for instance, aside from
supplying Corrections with an increased skill-base, they can mentor and
befriend prisoners, and provide an important informal monitoring of prison life.
Previously, there had been some concern about the reduction in the number
of outside workers who were able to access prisons and prisoners. Over the
last few years, the prison service has begun to encourage more volunteers
into the prison system – to teach basic life skills, to engage in cultural and
religious activities, to develop arts and crafts, and so on. In 2008, the
Department (2008:26) estimated that there were over 3,000 community
volunteers working in the prisons. By June 2009, this figure had grown to
over 4,700 (Prison Volunteering Advisory Group, 2009). This growing number
of people who wish to positively engage with prisoners demonstrates that the
culture of penal populism is, by no means, universal. Further consolidation of
this approach, to systematise volunteer involvement rather than leaving it to
institutional interest, would improve these interactions.
Difficulties with volunteers‟ access to prisons still appear to be a concern, with
the PVAG noting problems with inconsistency and communication issues – for
example, groups arriving at prisons only to find that visiting hours were
changed, or that there was a lockdown or a staff meeting in progress (Prison
Volunteering Advisory Group, 2009). Members of the group have also
cautioned against placing too much emphasis on the quantity of volunteers at
the expense of quality and effectiveness of the services provided, noting that
„there are often limited facilities which can impede growth in volunteer
activities‟ (Prison Volunteering Advisory Group, 2009). In addition, there are
concerns that volunteers can become overly controlled or „claimed‟ by
Corrections, to the detriment of their practice.
A 2010 report (Department of Corrections, 2010c), that evaluated the Faith-
Based Unit and target communities programme, has highlighted a number of
points about the use of volunteers. These included:
114 Prison Fellowship volunteers had been approved at Rimutaka
prison and they worked 20,000 hours during the year (largely in the
Faith Unit);
A „clash of cultures‟ existed between the Prison Service and Prison
Fellowship;
Prison staff had different expectations, of the programme and the role
of volunteers, from Prison Fellowship;
Prison staff were sceptical about the value of the programme, and the
training and professionalism of volunteers;
Volunteers „commanded enormous respect from prisoners‟ (ibid:14)
who felt that they were committed workers who treated them with
respect.
With the announcement of cessation of the Corrections contract with PARS
national office from March 2010, there has been uncertainty as to how this
service would continue (Watt, 2010). In 2009, PARS operated 20 local
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