Taskforce recommends rehabilitation programs for prisoners on remand to reduce risk of reoffending

A HIGH-level taskforce has recommended that Corrections Minister Peter Malinauskas change the rules to provide rehabilitation programs to prisoners on remand.

A taskforce has recommended that rehabilitation programs be provided to prisoners on remand, not just convicted inmates.

• Warren Mundine: How we can reform rehab for convicted criminals to help them change

ACCUSED criminals could be made to undergo rehabilitation before they have been convicted, under changes being considered by the State Government.

A high-level taskforce has recommended that Corrections Minister Peter Malinauskas change the rules to provide rehabilitation programs to prisoners on remand.

Currently, only convicted inmates can take part in such programs.

Corrections Department chief executive David Brown has also told The Advertiser that authorities “might need to start targeting people who haven’t yet been convicted” to undergo rehabilitation.

Latest figures show three-quarters of the state’s about 3000 inmates have been in prison before.

Corrections Minister Peter Malinauskas.

Mr Malinauskas convened a seven-person panel to examine ways to reduce the rate of reoffending by 10 per cent by 2020.

He is preparing a policy based on the taskforce’s 36 recommendations to be released mid-next year.

The panel recommended that Government investigate and roll out rehabilitation options for remandees while “accounting for the legal and ethical constraints that apply” to prisoners not yet convicted.

Taskforce chairman Warren Mundine AO writes in Friday’s The Advertiserthat prisoners on remand awaiting trial for long periods “will often be released on conviction because of time served”.

“If rehabilitation is limited to convicted offenders, these people miss out altogether,” he writes.

Mr Brown noted that admitting guilt was often a prerequisite for admittance to rehabilitation programs.

However, he said authorities should still consider “targeting people who haven’t yet been convicted to participate”.

“It’s really shifting some very strongly held views about how the criminal justice system works, about the presumption of innocence and the process that a defendant should go through to be found guilty before they start to look at acknowledging that offending and addressing that behaviour,” Mr Brown said.

Taskforce chairman Warren Mundine AO .

Anti-violence campaigner Rosie Batty has previously called for remandees to undergo treatment programs, saying it is a “key time” to change behaviours at their earliest contact with the justice system.

Corrections Department data show 204 abuse perpetrators are scheduled to take part in 17 family violence rehabilitation programs this financial year – in prisons or in community facilities – at a cost of $1.17 million.

Mr Malinauskas said reducing the rate of reoffending would lead to “less crime and less victims, while easing overcrowding within the prison system and reducing the cost to taxpayers”.

The taskforce also recommended:

A UNIT dedicated to finding jobs for ex-prisoners.

A SPECIALIST centre for Aboriginal offenders.

ENSURING every prisoner has a plan for their release, including where they will live and with whom.