Parole Board 'flying blind' - Judge Carruthers.

The Corrections Department ignores its statutory obligations under Section 43 (1a) of the Parole Act. This states that: “The Corrections Department must provide the Board with copies of all relevant information relating to the (parolee’s) current and previous convictions, including (for example) sentencing notes and pre-sentence reports.”

Since 90% of prisoners are incarcerated for alcohol and drug related offending, Wellington alcohol and drug counsellor, Roger Brooking, says section 43 (1a) means that Corrections must supply the Parole Board with comprehensive alcohol and drug assessments on parolees. But it doesn’t. Brooking says the Department supplies AOD assessments on less than 1% of offenders appearing before the Board.

Even Parole Board chairman Judge Carruthers says the Board is ‘flying blind’ in regard to substance abuse issues of parolees. This comment provided the title of Brooking’s new book: Flying Blind – How the justice system perpetuates crime and the Corrections department fails to correct.

The Department’s failure to provide the Board with alcohol and drug assessments has contributed to some unmitigated disasters – the murders committed by William Bell and Graeme Burton on release from prison are the most high profile cases.

Flying Blind contains the case histories of both men; it points out that in Burton’s case, the Board had four psychological reports and two psychiatric reports documenting Burton’s problems with drug addiction – but Corrections still failed to supply the Board with an alcohol and drug assessment.

Corrections Department figures indicate that 52% of prisoners re-offend and return to prison within five years. Brooking says the Department’s failure to provide the Board with alcohol and drug assessments on parolees is a significant factor contributing to this. In Flying Blind, Brooking documents other Departmental failures which contribute to recidivism such as the limited availability of alcohol and drug treatment in prison and the lack of supported accommodation available to prisoners on release.

Neither Bell nor Burton attended treatment in prison and neither was released into supervised accommodation. Brooking says that only 5% of those in prison are able to attend substance abuse treatment and less than 1% are released into supervised accommodation. Not much has changed. No wonder Judge Carruthers says the Board is flying blind.