For Immediate Release 1 April 2009

Prisoners ‘making their own beds’ in Auckland

It may seem unusual for prisoners to be ‘building the bars’ that may one day imprison them, but that’s exactly what’s happening in some of New Zealand’s prisons.

Prisoners working for Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE) are producing beds, desks, chairs and other furniture as part of the Mt Eden redevelopment project. CIE won the tender for the work last year.

Over 47 prisoners from Auckland and Waikeria Prisons and the Spring Hill Corrections Facility are involved in the project that will see more than 380 beds and items of cell furniture manufactured by CIE put into cells at Mt Eden.

CIE Engineering Sector Manager Mark O’Neill says that for many of the prisoners this opportunity provides them with their first real chance at learning the skills that could help them gain meaningful employment once they are released.

“The prisoners involved in the project are learning on the job under supervision. CIE Instructors teach the prisoners a range of skills that they are then assessed on, and prisoners earn National Qualification Framework credits toward certificates in welding, engineering, fabrication and working with stainless steel.”

“The last prison census indicated that 52 percent of prisoners had no formal qualifications before entering prison, and that only 45 percent had been in paid employment.”

“Research has shown that prisoners who find sustainable employment on their release from prison are less likely to re-offend – which is why we help train prisoners in industries experiencing skills shortages. Their chances of finding sustainable employment on release, and staying out of prison, is much greater.”

“Prisoners may not be serving sentences for anything to be proud of, but by providing them with opportunities to learn a trade they can look forward to a better life when they are released from prison.”

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