$26m plan to keep youth out of prison

By NAOMI LARKIN

Young people convicted of some non-violent crimes will no longer be sent to prison.

A $26 million plan, to be announced by Corrections Minister Matt Robson today, will provide for new, community-based institutions for youths aged 15 to 18 who would otherwise be imprisoned for offences such as burglary.

The institutions, to be called day reporting centres, would provide intensive rehabilitation and supervision for an estimated 70 such offenders a year.

The plan, understood to have received cabinet backing, includes special services for Maori and sex education for teenage offenders.

It is expected to receive a financial allocation in the Budget next week.

Mr Robson told the Herald the plan was "long-term investment stuff" but some aspects of it had already begun.

"You have to invest now to get the pay-off. The public is demanding this and they have to know the cost of it, and the cost if they don't do it."

Locking people away in the country's 18 prisons cost taxpayers $210.4 million last year.

Prepared by the Department of Corrections, the plan has three purposes: to reduce the number of children heading for a life of crime, to provide alternative sentences for high-risk teenagers, and rehabilitating those already in prison. It does not affect prisoners on remand.

Youths found guilty of serious crimes of violence would still go to prison.

But those sentenced to attend day centres would be given work skills courses with the aim of helping them find jobs in industries such as forestry, manufacturing and tourism.

Attendance would be compulsory, five days a week for six months. Those attending the centres would live at home. Some would be subject to curfews or electronic monitoring.

Similar programmes overseas had halved offending among 15 to 18-year-olds, Mr Robson said.

Extra sexual and health education, including contraceptive advice, would be provided for teenage girls aged between 13 and 18, in a bid to discourage unwanted pregnancies. The recipients of those services would be teenagers already in the justice system or in contact with Child, Youth and Family Services.

The prevention strategy would also include early intervention for children identified as being at risk.

Based on Project Early, a programme already running in seven Christchurch primary schools, extra money would be given to schools to employ staff to help teachers and parents change children's behaviour.

Rehabilitation programmes in prison would be designed particularly for repeatedly disqualified drivers and alcohol and drug-dependent inmates.

Seventy per cent of those convicted of driving while disqualified are re-convicted of the offence within five years. In 1999, there were 7697 convictions for driving while disqualified, of which 1155 resulted in imprisonment.

The programme for these offenders, Making Our Drivers Safe, would comprise 36 sessions tackle anger, substance abuse and personal problems in 36 sessions.

Average daily prison musters have increased by 99 per cent from 1985 to 1999, with around 5800 people now in prison. Of these, 96 per cent are men and 51 per cent of males are Maori.

The proposed services for Maori are modelled on units already operating at Hawkes Bay, Rimutaka and New Plymouth prisons.

Mr Robson said the plan would be an improvement on previous efforts because it involved the departments of the Prime Minister, police, Treasury, Youth Affairs, Child, Youth and Family, and Work and Income New Zealand as well as Corrections.

National's corrections spokesman, Brian Neeson, said the plan sounded like "a liberal load of clap-trap" and Mr Robson was turning the prison system into "vacation mecca."

"If I was under 20 and wanted some education and some cosseting, I'd better start committing some crimes," he said.

"I'm going to tell my son: Don't you borrow any more money for university.

"Go and rob a bank and head down to Matt Robson's 'Sunny Acres' and you will get education and all your food for nothing."