Rehabilitation and prison seen as contradictory

Press, 13 June 1979, Page 19

Rehabilitation and prison seen as contradictory

New Zealand needs appreciably more half-way houses in the community, and needs to maintain people in community employment, says the former Secretary for Justice (Mr Gordan Orr). "The prospect of rehabilitating people in prison is almost a contradiction in terms,” he says.

A sense of responsibility and self discipline also needs to be instilled in most offenders. Young offenders lack social skills. Education, too, is very worth while in prisons as a proportion of inmates can barely read or write. But Mr Orr thinks it a little idealistic to expect social agencies to change people’s conduct overnight. "My experience is that any programme you devise aimed at reforming or rehabilitating or reintegrating the offender back into the community is likely to have only very limited effects. "The main reason that many offenders stop of-

fending is simply that they mature, or they find a good job, or they find a good woman, or there is some other settling factor."

There will always be a need for prisons for hardcore offenders. “The question is whether we need to avail ourselves of sentences to quite the same extent. One of the off-shoots of prison sentences is that they break up homes, and as a result lead to anti-social behaviour."

Borstals have not been successful, says Mr Orr. “There is no guarantee that what is substituted for them will be any more successful."

Mr F. G. Paterson, S.M., says a balance must be struck between punishment, which society demands, and rehabilitation. There has always been a percentage of the population likely to offend and reoffend. But he says magistrates, try to avoid sending people to prison.

When offenders continually defy the law, and exhaust all the commun-ity-based sentences, they sometimes have to be sent to prison, even for the non-payment of fines. Prison is the ultimate sanction, says Mr Paterson.

The high imprisonment rate is a reflection of society itself, which has not instilled the standards of self discipline. Members of society have a duty to support offenders and there should be opportunities for more voluntary community assistance, Mr Paterson says. Prisons themselves should be humanised. They should provide better opportunities for counselling and constructive activity so that inmates can lead more responsible lives in the comounity. Mr Paterson thinks it remarkable that periodic detention works so well. Offenders doing community work receive tremendous counselling from their supervisors, and he would like to see everyone do some sort of community service. He says the advantages brush off both ways.

The former Minister of Justice (Mr Thomson) would like to see a greater emphasis on penalties which allow people to keep working normally — perhaps living at home. They could then pay their way in the community and not become isolated in a “sin bin” where they ningle with others and mingle with othersand xtend their criminal eduation.

He says there is a naive iew that a man can re>ume a normal life after .erving his prison sentence. “This just is not true. He comes out of prison with the double stigma of having committed a crime and having been in prison — and the strain of prison is the more lasting.” The Superintendent of Rolleston Prison (Mr K. L. Langley) says: “If it is necessary to send an individual to prison, the department is obliged to

bring every good influence to bear upon him.” Inmates, he says are encouraged to take up technical and correspondence courses and to better themselves.

He disagrees that prisoners at Rolleston would have more psychological problems than individuals in the community. Inmates at the prison come from every type of background, he says. “Criminal behaviour is an essential part of human behaviour.” Mr Langley feels that members of the community do not realise the chaos that, prison causes in an inmate’s life. If an individual is kept in prison long enough, he grows away from normal standards.

Mr Langley is also the Superintendent of the Rolleston Detention Centre, where offenders can be in custody for up to three months. “It is a short, sharp shock to young offenders, because there is rigid discipline and an arduous work scheme,” he says. But there was also social training, with programmes in health, budgeting and parenthood. Mr Humphrey Stroud, Superintendent of Paparua Prison, takes the view that prisons exist mainly to protect the public. There are chances for rehabilitation for those who want to take them. Paparua has 30 trade instructors, a social worker and two school teachers. Attempts are made to teach work skills, but many inmates who accept jobs while serving their sentence, do not keep the same jobs in the community. Some resent the fact that their jobs were found by the authorities, says Mr Stroud. Lack of motivation is one of the main problems affecting inmates, Mr Stroud believes. They are subjected to considerable pressure by their peer group not to go along with orders.

He says the prison population has changed considerably, especially among those imprisoned for drug offences.