Prisons members lobby MPs

By Peter de Graaff

Federation members in the Corrective Services Teachers Association, who work in prisons across NSW, have begun lobbying local MPs around the level of provision delivered to inmates.

On September 10 members from the Lithgow Correctional Centre accompanied by relieving Organiser John Hennessy, lobbied Gerard Martin whose electorate encompasses Lithgow and Bathurst. At their meeting they raised the following issues:

• The reduction in the number of teaching hours in comparison to the prison population. In 1992/93 about 72,000 teaching hours were delivered per annum to around 4,500 inmates. In 2001/02 around 71,000 hours were allocated to the delivery of educational programs to around 9000 inmates. These teaching hours are delivered by permanent and casual teachers employed directly by the Department of Corrective Services Adult Education and Vocational Training Institute to deliver courses to inmates.
• To comply with the Public Sector Management Act, the Department of Corrective Services is negotiating with Federation for a new award which will provide only for permanent teachers in Corrective Services and the elimination of casual provision. Unfortunately, this changeover is being attempted on a cost neutral basis without making provision to set an objective target for the annual delivery of teaching hours to inmates. Unless additional funds are provided to this process then the level of teaching hours provided will decline dramatically.
• Around 85 per cent of inmates have not completed beyond year 10 or equivalent.
• Studies conducted in the United States demonstrate that the delivery of educational programs to inmates has positive impact in reducing recidivism in their own right.

Throughout September members from the Corrective Services Teachers Association have made appointments to meet with the local member whose electorate their correctional centre is in, and also the local member where they live.

It is expected that with changes to the Bail Act the number of inmates in NSW prisons will continue to increase. Without an increase to the level of educational provision, many inmates will be returned to the community without having had the opportunity to address underlying causes of their offending behaviour and may continue to re-offend.

Peter de Graaff is a TAFE Officer.

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