Case management to boost prisoner rehab

The Corrections Department is introducing a new case management model that will boost the rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners, Corrections Minister Judith Collins said today.

The new approach will see specialised case managers working closely with individual prisoners from the beginning to the end of their sentence.

To support this new approach, the Department has employed 177 case managers, and will shortly start recruiting for another 50. This will enable 227 case managers to work directly with prisoners to reduce their risk of re-offending.

“This is a major advance in the management of prisoners in New Zealand,” Ms Collins said.

“When offenders leave our prisons, we don’t want to see them back. This initiative, along with increased drug and alcohol treatment, a range of rehabilitation programmes, work training, and education, will help offenders stay on the straight and narrow.

“The case management model will see an end-to-end approach in managing a prisoner’s rehabilitation and reintegration.

“The previous approach was limited to identifying the programmes a prisoner was eligible for and scheduling these into a sentence plan. The new approach means that one person is proactively working with a prisoner throughout their sentence.

“Case managers will work particularly closely with high risk prisoners because this is where they can have the biggest impact.”

All sentenced prisoners are now being moved across to their new case managers, who will work with them to develop their rehabilitation plan, ensuring they have access to the right rehabilitation programmes at the right time.