Limited Jobs For Prisoners

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31986, 13 May 1969, Page 1

Limited Jobs For Prisoners

Sixteen prisoners out of 305 held in Christchurch were yesterday working on daily parole in jobs outside the penal institutions. Five were from the Rolleston

Prison, five from Addington Prison and six from the pre-release hostel in Opawa.

With facilities at present, a maximum of 26 prisoners sentenced to terms in the Paparua, Rolleston and Addington Prisons could be on dally parole for work in the community. The Minister of Justice (Mr Hanan) on Friday announced that he had instructed the Justice Department to extend the daily parole for work system so that more Borstal inmates prisoners, particularly those serving their first prison term, could be released to work in jobs. The practical difficulties because of lack of facilities and the 4 limited number of jobs

offering will be the biggest obstacles in Christchurch..

No more than 10 prisoners can be on daily parole from Rolleston Prison, 10 from Addington Prison and six from the pre-release hostel, according to the Superintendent of Paparua Prison (Mr M. C. Carew) and the DeputySuperintendent (Mr J. O. Cruse).

Yesterday, 180 prisoners were held at Paparua Prison, built to accommodate 150, 70 at Rolleston (suitable for 50), . and 54 at Addington (suitable , for 50). The total was 304 and the prisons have held up to 335, compared with the > maximum desirable number of i 200. No prisoners are on daily parole from Paparua because 4 of administrative difficulties 1 and the tensions that would ’ arise from a minority of those 1 imprisoned going out five • days a week. 1 A new women’s prison is ' planned at Paparua, and a ■ new maximum-security wing 1 is also envisaged. A new re- • lease-to-work wing, separate • from but part of Addington 1 Prison, is proposed. ! Mr Hanan has said that re-

strictions on applications from prisoners for release to work should be relaxed. At present only prisoners serving 18 months or more may apply, and then only in the last six months of the sentence. Prisoners serving a first gaol term of six months or more may apply for release to work soon after being sentenced.

Prison officers, probation officers and hostel wardens in Christchurch all agree that many employers in the city are most helpful when jobs are sought for prisoners to aid in their rehabilitation in society.

However, when jobs are fewer, as they were last year, jobs for prisoners are harder

to get “When many are seeking jobs, prisoners cannot have priority,” said Mr Cruse. In some instances prisoners had to wait some months for jobs after their applications for release to work had been approved by the prison committee.

Many prisoners, some of them normally living outside Christchurch, give up the jobs found for them as soon

as they have served their terms and employers found this a nuisance.

“Finding jobs for prisoners before their release is not primarily ,a matter of saving money; it is first an attempt to help them in rehabilitation and reformation,” Mr Cruse said.

He said that it could well be that 40 prisoners were suitable for daily parole if jobs could be found for them, and prison facilities allowed it.

The district probation officer in Christchurch (Mr L. A. Brown) said that up to 50 per cent of the prisoners in Christchurch would be suitable for daily parole and would benefit frbm it.

“Having a job, a place in the community and some money when released are practical advantages that speak for themselves. We have our disappointments, but the release-to-work scheme has definitely proved worth while. Limiting factors are lack of facilities at the prisons, and hostel accommodation and the difficulty in finding jobs,” he said.