74% of women and 75% of men in prison left school with no qualifications with
approximately one-quarter later completing Job Skills courses. (Prison Census 1997).

More women (80%) than men (45%) enrol in prison programmes. (Prison Census 1997)

Of the total 4786 sentenced prisoners held in custody on 26 February 1999, the table below indicates that overall only 36% of all prisoners were engaged in education or training programmes in prison. Some of these figures relate to one-off encounters.

Table 1: Sentenced Prisoners on Education/Training Programmes* at 2 March 1999.

** this programme covers both lifeskills and basic education (including literacy)
* in some cases the figures represent estimates

(Source: Written answers to questions in Parliament by Minister of Corrections, 2 March 1999)

During 1996/97 Corrections spent a mere 2.4% of its total expenditure on all reintegrative services (programmes) - excluding clinical treatment services provided by psychologists. Canada spent 7%. (The Use of Imprisonment, Ministry of Justice, June 1998.)

• The prison policy and procedures manual (PPM) sets out standards for reintegrative services (programmes) and states that 'all prisons offer the agreed core' services. The list of 20 core programmes includes literacy, substance abuse, violence prevention, work experience, communication skills, 'cognitive restructuring', social skills, culture, driving, and life skills. (PPM Ref. E.06.R1.01)
• A survey of sentenced men in Christchurch prison in 1992 indicated 60% had reading difficulties or were illiterate.(Ch.Ch. Press, Terry Easthope, then Programme Manager). Canterbury men's prisons now employ a half-time education officer. In the mid-1990s a team of educators provided primary and secondary education to Form Five level.
• Prisoners do not qualify for Student Loans, Study Right, or Student Allowances. Any tertiary courses undertaken by prisoners are mostly through the Open Polytechnic which offers a hardship grant of up to 90% of course fees in 'appropriate' cases. According to Corrections 'many' such prisoners access that grant.
• Other funding sources include the prisoner's own funds (average income $3.60 per week); funds from prisoner's family members; Maori Trusts; benevolent community trusts or the NZPARS Inmate Education Fund.

The small NZPARS Inmate Education Fund (drawn from donations/fundraising) is accessed through local PARS societies. In 1997, 40 prisoners were assisted. Between January 1998 and March 1999, a further $16,878 of this fund assisted 79 prisoners. The average grant made was $214. (NZPARS Circular, March 1999.)

• 'On occasions' prisons will provide funding assistance for tertiary education. The pre-condition of funding assistance is that the prisoner contributes a minimum of 10% of the costs unless the course of study is equal to, or lower than, Form Five level, or unless the prisoner is financially unable to make the 10% contribution. (Correspondence with Corrections 22.12.98)
• It is unclear how many of the 5% of prisoners taking tertiary courses in prisons are indeed financially assisted by the prisons. Informed anecdotal reports suggest few are aware of this assistance or are helped. The following criteria are considered by Case Management Teams in prison when deciding on financial assistance:
  • total course costs, including enrolment fee, books & materials
  • the level of assistance being sought
  • the prisoners ability to contribute to the cost of the course
  • course pre-requisites being met
  • assurance that prisoner can adequately meet requirements
  • the course contribution to the prisoners effective reintegration
  • the course contribution to suitable NZQA qualifications
  • the recommendations of the prison education staff
• A notable shift in emphasis from education to work in prisons has taken place in the last two-three years. Intentions are to have all prisoners working 6 hours per day within the next three years. Education and other programmes will fit around a structured working day. Core programmes are to be reduced from 20 to eight. (Mark Byers, CEO, Corrections.) 5000 or so prisoners are to spend some 4,700,000 hours at work compared to 672,000 hours in programmes. (Corrections Forecast Report 1998).