Five youth prisoners at Hawke's Bay Regional Prison are working with boys from St John's College, Hastings, to complete Level 4 qualifications, and in doing so, have established a company.

For the last six months, the students from St John's have made regular visits to the Tirohanga Unit inside the Hawke's Bay Regional Prison meeting with their business partners, inmates aged between 17-19 years.

All students involved meet for lessons, with some further instruction work done via email in pursuit of credits for the New Zealand Institute of Management paper.

The Scheme requires students to form real businesses and sell real products and services to the market.

What resulted from the partnership is a company called BRUTHAS, through which the students work together to design, test, craft, market and sell 'Just Boards' - handcrafted bread boards.

The BRUTHAS is the brainchild of St John's College student Jake Dunn.

Dunn said he came across the appalling fact that 80 per cent of young offenders reoffend.

"So I thought what better way to enter into the enterprise project than to have a product which lowers that statistic and brings the values from our school into it."

The business venture is the first of its kind and has given a new perspective to the inmates on what their future could look like when they leave prison.

"I want to be a young entrepreneur. I'll probably be the first one from my whanau so yeah that's my ultimate goal," says one of the inmates who is part of BRUTHAS.

St John's College principal Paul Melloy is impressed with the joint project.

"I think the whole concept is outstanding - we're very proud that the two groups of students can work together like this on an equal basis," he says.

"A project like this ticks all our boxes - we're fortunate that we're able to do something like this, and the students involved are excited and proud too."

Sources

• St John's College
• New Zealand Herald
• Maori Television
• Young Enterprise
• Image: Young Enterprise

Corrections is also unlikely to meet its composite target of reducing reoffending by 25 per cent by 2017. Post-prison reoffending rates have barely changed in the past 10 years.

The latest report by The Salvation Army's Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit Beyond the Prison Gate: Reoffending and Reintegration in Aotearoa New Zealand, argues the system is failing prisoners and the public.

"The prison gate has for too long been a revolving door rather than a transition into a second chance at life. Instead of being effectively rehabilitated and reintegrated into society, many prisoners on release become 'repeat customers'," says report author Annaliese Johnston.

The Salvation Army argues money should be diverted into rehabilitation programmes to try and reduce this number.

The report looks at the experiences of past inmates for a first-hand look at how the system impacts those who have been released and how things might be improved.

It makes several recommendations, including the formation of a cross-party strategy to reduce spending on custodial prison services and increase safety by reinvesting that money in strategies that reduce crime, better access to accommodation and health services, private-public partnerships to provide employment, and mentors.

Source

• salvationarmy.org.nz
• scoop.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• Image: salvationarmy.org.nz