Helping former prisoners break cycle
Former prisoners are choosing to break the cycle of offending, as companies give them a chance.
The offender employment programme sees organisations and employers support former prisoners with jobs upon release.
Rosedale company ICB Retaining & Construction has employed seven former prisoners since February. Resource manager Annette De Wet suggested employing past offenders when the company was struggling to find staff.
All seven of the former prisoners still worked with ICB and came from a range of backgrounds from high to lowrisk offending.
But De Wet said their backgrounds didn’t define them.
‘‘If they are keen and have the right attitude, we would employ them,’’ she said. ‘‘Give them a shot. They are up against it.’’
One former prisoner had been with the retaining and construction company for four months and said it had been difficult coming out of corrections, so he appreciated the opportunity with ICB.
‘‘For a lot of us it instills our personal mana back, that self esteem that we can reintegrate back into society and work but, at the same time, look after our families,’’ he said. ’’A lot don’t want to go back to their old ways.’’
The employee said starting the job at ICB had been a learning curve as he’d learned to build relationships, deal with clients and learn health and safety.
He said there was incentive to progress within ICB and he was happy to have broken the cycle.
‘‘I hated going around in circles ... It was time to go out and make a life,’’ he said.
The employee said ICB had also provided a decent wage.
Another employee said, having been given an opportunity, he didn’t want to let ICB down.
‘‘For me I’m really grateful to have a chance. Most of my life I’ve been railroaded and pushed to the corner. I’d rather work,’’ he said.
The Department of Corrections’ manager of offender employment in the northern region, Karl Bethell, said the employment programme had been running for five years but had been formalised in November 2016 with the appointment of a dedicated team manager.
From May 2016 to May 2017, approximately 2300 ex-offenders were placed into employment beating the national target or 1300. Of those, 1300 were in the northern region, which stretches from south Auckland to Northland.