Corrections scrutinises failing drug and alcohol programmes

The latest data shows that the department’s rehabilitation programmes have had very little impact on preventing prisoners from reoffending.

Corrections’ director of mental health and addiction services Emma Gardner told 1News that, while in the past the programmes made a real difference, “the figures are showing that at the moment the programmes aren’t as effective as they used to be”.

Of course they are failing.

They are failing because the percentage of professional criminals and gang members has rapidly increased inside prisons.

The need to admit guilt before you can access these rehabilitation programmes creates a disincentive for prisoners to seek help. This leads to prisoners serving their full lags rather than being bailed early under the previous bail rules. We end up with prisoners who are institutionalised and haven’t seen an hour of counselling while inside prison.

The system is designed to take violent men and release them more damaged than when they went in.

The environments inside the prisons are violent and corrupt, you can’t rehabilitate people in a prison environment where any sign of weakness becomes an invitation to violence.

The thirst for vengeance driven by news crime porn and ‘get-tough-on-crime’ Politicians has generated a prison industry that becomes more counter productive the more draconian it gets.

The chances of a destructive prison riot in NZ before the 2023 election can not be ruled out.

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