Australian prison vocational education and training and returns to custody among male and female ex-prisoners: A cross-jurisdictional study
| Author | Eileen Baldry,Sharon Casey,Jesse Cale,Andrew Day,Margaret Giles,David Bright,Jo Wodak |
| Date | 01 March 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0004865818779418 |
| Published date | 01 March 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Australian prison vocational
education and training
and returns to custody
among male and
female ex-prisoners:
A cross-jurisdictional study
Jesse Cale
UNSW Australia, Australia
Andrew Day
James Cook University, Australia
Sharon Casey
Deakin University, Australia
David Bright
Flinders University, Australia
Jo Wodak
UNSW Australia, Australia
Margaret Giles
Edith Cowan University, Australia
Eileen Baldry
UNSW Australia, Australia
Abstract
The current study examined the impact of vocational education and training in the custody
setting on returns to custody among Australian adult prisoners from selected jurisdictions.
Vocational education and training, education, and behavioural change programme participation
Corresponding author:
Jesse Cale, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
Email: j.cale@unsw.edu.au
Australian & New Zealand Journal of
Criminology
2019, Vol. 52(1) 129–147
!The Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0004865818779418
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in custody and demographic and risk assessment data were provided by correctional
services in four Australian states for 10,834 Australian prisoners released from custody
in 2010–2011. This information was used to predict returns to custody by 2015–2016.
Overall, the results showed that participating in vocational education and training in
custody contributed to the likelihood of remaining custody free at two and five
years post-relea se for both male and fe male prisoners . However, for males the relationsh ip
was moderated by risk level. These findings are discussed in the context of
developing vocational education and training in prison settings to address the specific
needs of individuals and expectation of the wider community.
Keywords
Employment, prisoners, recidivism, vocational education and training
Date received: 23 January 2018; accepted: 7 May 2018
Introduction
The Australian prisoner population is growing rapidly with increases of 40% over the
past five years (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017). Virtually all these prisoners are
released sooner or later so community reintegration post-release is of vital importance.
Employment has been identified as a positive factor in successful reintegration (Coyle,
2009). Across Australian correctional jurisdictions approximately three-quarters of all
sentenced prisoners (excluding unsentenced/remanded prisoners) who are eligible to
work participate in some form of prison work and/or vocational education and training
(VET) (Productivity Commission, 2017). These programmes provide some level of voca-
tional training that, wherever possible, leads to the award of a qualification that
improves post-release employability and, as a result, contributes to the rehabilitative
goals of correctional services. They are based on the assumption that finding employ-
ment post-release is key to the development of non-offending pathways. It is well
established in the criminological literature, for example, that employment can act as a
buffer against crime (Skardhamar & Telle, 2012) and that individuals who are employed
are less likely to commit new offences (e.g. Uggen, 1999). For Coyle (2009), ‘finding a
way of earning a living is the most important part of a prisoner’s ability to reintegrate
into society on release from prison’ (p. 89).
Recent years have seen growing interest and investment in prisoner VET in both Australia
and New Zealand. The ‘Prison to Work Report’, recently published by the Council of
Australian Governments (2016), has found that time in prison could be better used to set
up pathways to employment and there have been some recent descriptive analyses of VET
(e.g. Newton et al., 2016; Wodak & Day, 2017). In 2018, the Australian Government will roll
out a new ‘Prison to Work’ programme which is intended to provide Indigenous prisoners
access to the post-release supports that will better prepare them to find employment
(Australian Department of Employment, 2017). In New Zealand, the ‘Release to Work’
programme allows minimum security prisoners to engage in paid employment in the com-
munity that will help them to gain employment on release.
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130 Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology 52(1)
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