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Aftercare
Up one levelFrom their work in prison, PF national organisation volunteers see the many challenges ex-prisoners encounter upon release. To meet these needs they are developing programmes such as pre-release mentoring and preparation programmes and non-residential post-release assistance and mentoring programmes.
- Restorative Reintegration - A New Approach to Prisoner Aftercare in New Zealand
- There are around 8000 prisoners currently in the prison system. There will be a further 1000 prisoners in the system by 2011. Around 9000 prisoners are released from prison each year. About 50% of all released prisoners will receive a Corrections reintegration plan on leaving. The remaining 4,500 will get their $350 and a bus ticket. The first 3 – 6 months is the crucial period for released prisoners. Many prisoners walk out of prison, determined to make a new start. The first 3 – 6 months are critical. They need help with housing, employment, debt management, and family and community relationships. If they get help from mentors and the community in the first six months, the chance of them reoffending drops by around 40%. If they face barriers, red tape, and stigmatization, it becomes difficult to keep on the straight and narrow. That is where Prison Fellowship comes in. Over the last four years, Prison Fellowship has developed a holistic approach to prisoner reintegration known as “Restorative Reintegration”
- Focus on Prisoner Reintegration
- The PF New Zealand 2007 annual conference, When Prisoners Come Home… A Community Response to Prisoner Reintegration, highlighted the many issues surrounding a prisoner’s release from prison.
- Operation Jericho- Breaking Down the Walls Between the Church and Prisons
- Originally published in Inside Out. The Newsletter of Prison Fellowship New Zealand. April 2002.