Corrections 'knew' about flaws

The Corrections Department "always knew" its rehabilitation programmes were a work in progress but is now "a bit clearer" about how to improve them, a leaked internal email to staff says.

Obtained by the Herald, the email was sent by the general manager of probation and offender services, Katrina Casey, late on Wednesday, the day department chief Barry Matthews admitted under select committee questioning that there were concerns about the programmes.

New Zealand First MP Ron Mark had asked about evaluations contained in the department's last annual report which found offenders on 13 of the 20 rehabilitation programmes were more likely to re-offend than those who were not on a programme.

The email said the committee questioning may result in "a lot of media attention, not all of it necessarily accurate. We and the communications team are working to ensure as much balance and accuracy as possible."

The data in the annual report had raised questions about the programme, she said.

Work was underway to review the mix of programmes delivered and find ways to improve them, and recommendations would be put next month.

The work had begun after the annual report was published last year, although a unit established in the 2004/05 financial year was also focused on improving programme delivery, she said.

"We always knew we needed to view some of these programmes as a 'work in progress' and we are a bit clearer now as to how we can further improve what we have been doing."

Mr Mark said the email was not only an admission that the programmes did not work, but raised further questions about why the department had taken so long to act, given the admission it had always known there were problems.

In Parliament on Wednesday he cited a December 2003 report prepared for the department which said the Straight Thinking programme - the one which came out worst in the evaluations - "would appear to adhere least to the established principles of effective programming".

It was "clearly important to prevent any further erosion of programme integrity", the report continued.

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia, a former Associate Corrections Minister, said serious questions needed to be asked about funds being wasted, and accused Corrections' treatment programmes of being captured by psychologists.

"The problem is that they think life-long issues can be solved by clinical psychologists who diagnose inmates with having 'criminogenic needs' and then, having identified their "defective thinking", draw up a criminogenic needs inventory.

"Having got the paperwork in place, they prescribe a diet of mind-altering programmes such as Straight Thinking; supplemented by a dose of Maori Culturally Related Needs if they happen to be tangata whenua.

"All these acronyms and treatments amount to nothing when the inmates come out to the real world."