Sir Ron Young, head of New Zealand’s Conditionary Council of Condition of Freedom in the last seven years, has been retiring.
Photo: Aaron Smale/Ikon Media
Retired Case Freedom President Sir Ron Young says it is an injustice that some people do not receive an early release from prison because of the lack of available rehab programs.
Sir Ron, who spoke Nine in half Around its seven years at work, the rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners were “significantly underestimated.”
He had seen dozens, perhaps hundreds of people, not receive early release because they were unable to access their rehab program.
“There is no doubt that it is an injustice, it is wrong.”
“No system has all the resources to do all the time,” he said. “But this can be better with more resources.”
Rehabilitation, through criminogenic programs that identified why someone offended, helped reduce violent and sexual offenses between 15 and 20 %, he said.
He said the quality of the programs was good, but “modest” availability.
“For many of these criminals, entering these great programs takes a long time.
“So for many criminals, they are sitting in prison with really nothing to do and no advantage for them.”
The same was for reintegration programs.
“There is no release for work. Even accepting that there is high unemployment at the moment, it is difficult to find people in prison organize jobs.
“What is called guided launches, taking people to the community with a prison officer to familiarize them again with society.”
The housing was also a problem for former prisoners, said Sir Ron.
“It is people who need supported accommodations and therefore stay there (in prison) often for years, unable to find anywhere.”
The Conditional Freedom Council also faced great difficulty in accessing forensic psychiatric reports for prisoners, with Sir Ron Young saying it was “now impossible” to get them across the country.
“They said they will not write the reports because they do not have the resources and this is extremely problematic for us.
“We have to try to get private psychiatrists who are also very busy, so this is a very difficult and stressful area for the conditional freedom council.”
New Zealand’s prison population was about 10,000, and the rate was comparable to Australia and the United Kingdom, according to Sir Ron.
He called the proposed changes in the act of judgment, which would strengthen the consequences of the offense, limiting the use of 40 %sentence discounts, “unlike a good policy.”
“If we want, like everyone, to make the community safer, my experience is that I can’t think of any of these reforms that will do it.”
Sir Ron highlighted the law of the three attacks.
“If you say, you won’t receive parole, people will not rehabilitate and we will cast them on the worst of all circumstances.
“No rehabilitation, probably little or no support, no period of parole when they could get used to being in the community, is a recipe for problems.”
Sir Ron spoke in depth with Nine in half Regarding how the penitentiary system was working, the challenges of evaluating the risk of recurrence for the disputed parcel of parole, along with the widest image of bulging arrests, rehabilitation failures and a moving political environment.
Last year, the Conditional Freedom Council held 8261 hearings involving 4234 offenders complying with long -term judgments.
In time, he was on the condition of probation about 51,000 cases had been dealt with.
Sir Ron admitted that sometimes the conditional freedom advice did not hit things, and within the wider correction system, there were some errors that resulted in catastrophic effects.
The council saw between seven and 10 prisoners eligible for parole every day and, on average, each case receives 50 minutes.
He said there has been a big change in seven years since he was on the board, including the change the way he approached the victims.
“What we are trying to do is make it the best possible system for them.”
The board revised and rewrote all the information provided to the victims.
He then analyzed better protecting the victims’ residential addresses in relation to where offenders would be released, which included financing for victim support workers to contact the victims directly.
“And then we had more information to the members of the Conditional Freedom Council on how to address discussions with the victims. Now we see many victims.”
Sir Ron said the contribution of a victim in an audience can have significant weight, especially if a victim knew the aggressor.
The homicide rate in New Zealand was 19 by one million people in the 1990s, reducing between nine and 11 today, said Sir Ron.
The conditional freedom council used all information and reports available in a prisoner to assess his improper risk – the risk of recurrence multiplied by the risk of damage.
They considered the chances of recurring, the prisoner’s history, the psychological profile and the work they did to rehabilitate.
“But it’s a judgment. There is no doubt about it.”
The highest recurrence rate was by people who were arrested for less than two years because they almost guaranteed to return, said Sir Ron.
“They will come back and will be worse. There is no doubt that it will be worse.”
He said that “half -way houses” abroad allowed the prisoners to live and work in a community, maintaining a nightclub touch.
“They learn to live a positive life – so all these things are possible and much cheaper.”
