KEY POINTS:
Providing halfway houses for ex-prisoners could cut re-offending rates to five or six times below current levels, says the Parole Board chief.
Judge David Carruthers _ a former Chief District Court Judge, and board chairman for the past three years _ told a foster parents' conference in Tauranga that Canada was "five or six times more successful" than New Zealand at reducing reoffending because almost all long-term prisoners were placed in halfway houses on release.
Afterwards, he said New Zealand did not have comparable halfway houses with 24-hour, live-in supervision, except for three specialist houses in Hamilton, New Plymouth and Christchurch. The Prisoners Aid and Rehabilitation Society and the Salvation Army also ran "supported accommodation" in most regional centres.
"Supported accommodation is usually flats or houses which are provided by Corrections through Prisoners Aid with supervision for three months," he said.
But the supervision was not on-site.
"The Canadian system is much more flexible and could be long-term, with supervisors living in 24 hours."
Last year's Corrections Department annual report shows that 42 per cent of people leaving prison in 2005-06 re-offended within a year, and 55 per cent within two years.
Judge Carruthers said releasing prisoners early on parole, but with continued supervision cut the reoffending rate to half that of those who stayed in prison until the end of their sentences. He has visited the Canadian system and reported back to the Corrections Department.
"What I'm hoping is that they might follow it up by looking at the Canadian stuff themselves."
He said most long-term prisoners needed halfway houses to help them re-adjust to living in society.
"The halfway houses [in Canada] are closely supervised and monitored, but the ex-prisoners have to cook for themselves, shop for themselves, budget for themselves, and start going out to work or courses under supervision."
Although the Canadian houses were run by the state, Judge Carruthers suggested they should be run by community groups in New Zealand.
"We have a strong history of community organisations doing those things well. I think that would fit with our different culture better," he said.
"There are some very strong iwi-based organisations that I'm sure would welcome the opportunity of being part of rehabilitation and reintegration."
Judge Carruthers said that when he was appointed to chair the Parole Board, he expected to be dealing with "violent, angry and sinister" prisoners seeking early release.
Instead, he had mostly seen "enormous sadness".
"It's the sadness of ruined childhoods, of abuse, of abandonment often and neglect, of mental health issues unacknowledged, of fractured involvement in education.
"These things are never an excuse, but often an explanation, and in a terrible way that cycle is now being repeated."
He said the Parole Board now asked prisoners to write their life histories and their aspirations so it could try to build their strengths rather than focus on their crimes.
