Prison programs
Matthew BACH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:25): (253) My question is again for the Minister for Corrections. Minister, according to the Annual Prisons Statistical Profile less than a third of eligible people in prison are participating in education programs. Why is the figure so low?
Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:26): I thank the member for his question and his interest in our corrections system. I think it is important to understand that our corrections facilities do provide a great opportunity for people to turn their lives around whilst keeping the Victorian community safe. In terms of statistics and participation in our programs, we do obviously encourage prisoners to participate in our programs because it is good for them if they participate, and obviously the lifelong learning opportunities provided are state of the art. Earlier this year I had the opportunity to visit the Loddon Middleton facility, where we have got one of our new centres of excellence where we provide opportunities for people to get skills such as tickets for warehousing work, tickets for welding and carpentry work – real-life opportunities that they can take out once they leave the correctional environment and they are back in the community.
In terms of participation in programs and why the figures are very low, they just take one statistic. But what I will say is that our numbers in our corrections systems are very low relative to other states, and that is a good outcome. I think that probably also reflects that the cohort that are in custodial settings are a relatively complex cohort. Obviously we do take an approach where we encourage people to participate in those programs, but our prison cohort is probably more complex than other jurisdictions. I do not necessarily like making jurisdictional comparisons, because there are lower numbers obviously with a higher proportion of high offences amongst those. But our programs are designed to give people the best chance. We will encourage them. We will focus on alcohol and drug rehabilitation and providing learning opportunities. Ultimately we can encourage and have those incentives in place, but it is obviously up to those in custody to take those opportunities to turn their lives around.
Matthew BACH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:28): I do thank the minister for his response, but my understanding is somewhat different. Minister, isn’t it a fact that due to budgetary constraints prisoners now have less access to educational programs?
Enver ERDOGAN (Northern Metropolitan – Minister for Corrections, Minister for Youth Justice, Minister for Victim Support) (12:28): I thank Dr Bach for his supplementary question. That is just not correct. Our government has invested record amounts into our corrections facilities. I have seen some of the correctional facilities in other jurisdictions, and I can say in terms of the programs and educational opportunities they are second to none, like I said. They are state-of-the-art facilities, whether it be in warehousing programs or whether it be in construction, in welding, in carpentry and in all sorts of skills, in real-life partnerships – the Kangan Institute in Loddon Middleton is one example. But in youth justice – you talked about Cherry Creek earlier – we have got a new partnership with Gordon TAFE, for those of you familiar with Gordon TAFE and the work that they do. So we have got real partnerships and real pathways to jobs. I have talked about the Wadamba prison-to-work program. Our centres of excellence are the same – straight into a job out of custody. So I do not accept Dr Bach’s assertion.