Government begins rating paroled prisoner performance

Photo / File

League tables have been introduced to monitor the handling of offenders in the community and to bring underperforming regions into line.

The Corrections Department's Community Probation Services was heavily criticised in an Auditor-General's report in 2008 into the department's handling of paroled prisoners, which found the department was failing to fulfil at least one of five requirements to ensure public safety in most of the 100 cases it reviewed.

Corrections was also in the spotlight for failures that contributed to the death of Karl Kuchenbecker in 2007, who was killed by prisoner Graeme Burton while he was on parole.

The department has significantly lifted its CPS performance and is in the process of reforming probation services, putting the focus on those offenders in the community that pose the highest risk.

The league tables, brought in by new chief executive Ray Smith, are used to improve performance, and ultimately reduce re-offending.

Each region is rated on how well it meets the mandatory standards that probation officers must follow for each offender on a sentence or court order in the community.

CPS has improved compliance with parole standards from 56 per cent in September 2008 to 97 per cent in March 2011, and with home detention standards from 52 per cent to 93 per cent over the same period.

The table for March, obtained under the Official Information Act, shows Wellington to be the best region, and Christchurch the worst, although the Christchurch data was taken before the February 22 earthquake.

Overall performance for meeting mandatory standards was maintained at 92 per cent, the same as in February.

Child sex-offenders on extended supervision were particularly well-monitored, with the department achieving 99 per cent of mandatory standards.

For the Auckland region, Auckland was ranked second (96 per cent), Waitemata third equal (95 per cent) and Manukau seventh (92 per cent).

While overall performance was very high, there were pockets of lower performance including for monitoring community work in Hawkes Bay/Gisborne (55 per cent) and Hamilton (62 per cent), and in Manukau (79 per cent) for intensive supervision - for offenders convicted of serious crimes or with complex rehabilitation needs.

Meeting the standards
Best region: Wellington (97 per cent)
Worst: Christchurch (82 per cent) performance based on sample to Feb 22 earthquake

National average for parole: 97 per cent
National average for extended supervision for child-sex offenders: 99 per cent

Overall national average: 92 per cent