December 2010
Junee breaks new ground
Junee Correctional Centre (JCC) will be breaking new ground when it combines with Habitat for Humanity, TAFE NSW Riverina Institute and Junee Shire Council in Australia’s first ‘Prison Build’ project.
As a result of this unique collaboration, inmates will build a house at JCC for relocation to a block of land in Junee. The house will be allocated to a low-income family in need.
The Prison Build initiative follows the centre introducing a building and construction certificate course through TAFE NSW Riverina Institute last year.
Since then inmates have built two new buildings and are currently constructing the new Learning Resource Centre at JCC. One of the buildings, a multi purpose centre, is being used to deliver a more extensive array of satellite programs and education services to inmates.
General manager of JCC Andy Walker said combining the TAFE course with construction projects allowed inmates to develop practical skills that will help them gain employment upon release.
“The prisoners are very proud of the construction work they have completed and are looking forward to the important role they will play in the Prison Build project,” he said.
Early next year inmates will begin prefabricating a house in the new TAFE training area at the centre. Different sections will then be pieced together in an area adjoining the staff car park. Inmates with appropriate approval will combine with community organisations, local businesses and the family receiving the home in this stage of construction.
The house will then be transported in two halves to land in Junee where construction will be completed. Inmates will also assist with landscaping.
The family receiving the home agrees to work more than 500 hours on the construction. In return they are provided with an interest-free mortgage with repayments that are never more than 25 per cent of their gross household income.
It is proposed that following the construction of the first home in Junee similar projects could be undertaken throughout the Riverina area.
Habitat for Humanity builds simple, decent and affordable homes in partnership with low- income families in need. The organisation has built nearly 300,000 houses around the world, providing more than 1.5 million people in more than 3000 communities with shelter.
Habitat for Humanity Australia was established in 1988 and has constructed more than 80 homes in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. The local organisation’s operations are expanding rapidly and it has more than 50 projects in the pipeline.
Comic delivers serious message
The humble comic book is to be used to deliver a serious message to indigenous youth on the ramifications of engaging in criminal activity and spending time in prison.
With the assistance of indigenous inmates, who were keen to offer guidance and help keep Aboriginal youth out of trouble, the Fulham Correctional Centre has played a key role in the development of this unique comic book.
‘Stay Out’ highlights that drugs, offending behaviour and spending time in prison all severely affect and limit life opportunities. With the characters speaking indigenous ‘street cred lingo’ the comic book is specifically aimed at indigenous youth.
It was launched at a meeting of the Aboriginal Justice Forum in the Gippsland city of Morwell recently. Penny Armytage, secretary of the Department of Justice, attended the event, as did Fulham’s manager of offender development Jeremy Parker.
More than 3000 copies of the comic book will be distributed throughout Gippsland, indigenous community groups in Victoria and through GEO correctional centres across Australia.
“We have found that comics are the most effective way to raise important social messages with the younger population,” said Parker. “We were excited to have Inception Strategies and a group of Fulham inmates develop this comic book that will go some of the way to help indigenous youth make better decisions in their lives.”
Inception Strategies produces social comics with various health and education messages with a particular focus on young people from indigenous and non-English speaking backgrounds. The comic story-lines are developed through workshops with members of the community that the comic is targeting.
‘Stay Out’ highlights how 17-year-old Noel becomes involved in a gang, drug taking, car theft and robbery. The comic follows Noel’s crimes, capture, sentencing and life at Fulham Correctional Centre. It also tracks how his mates Briggsy and Brad join him in prison through drug taking that leads to a range of small crimes which escalate into more serious crimes and jail terms. It costs one the love of his family and the other his girlfriend.
Click comic image to view 'Stay Out'
Community partnership success
Two state governments have acknowledged GEO for the community partnerships the company has forged in 2010.
Fulham Correctional Centre won the ‘Most Outstanding Location Based Project’ award at the Corrections Victoria Community Work Partnership Awards, while Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre (AGCC) has received a prestigious Minister’s Award for Excellence in Community Safety.
Fulham was acknowledged for its Pups in Prison program. Run in partnership with Assistance Dogs Australia and Corrections Victoria, the project sees prisoners help train labrador pups to eventually work in the community assisting people with physical disabilities achieve a greater level of independence.
“Over 14 months, eight prisoners worked as dog handlers on a daily basis teaching the animals a range of skills including obedience and commands,” said Corrections Victoria commissioner Bob Hastings at the awards presentation.
“The prisoners were also responsible for feeding, grooming and socialising the dogs. Three labrador dogs trained at Fulham successfully graduated into the intensive training program at the National Training Centre for Assistance Dogs Australia in New South Wales.”
Fulham submitted three entries into this year’s Community Work Partnership Awards, which attracted 64 nominations from across the state.
In partnership with the Australian Landscape Trust, Fulham was also successful in two other categories with its ‘Five Acre Garden’ project. The project won a ‘Best in Region’ (Gippsland) award and was runner-up for the ‘Environmental Sustainability Project’ award.
AGCC received its Minister’s Award in the ‘green’ category, nominating its Environmental Management Strategy for consideration by the panel of six judges.
The Queensland Government’s Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Emergency Services, Neil Roberts, presented the award at a ceremony at Parliament House.
The submission highlighted the excellent work of AGCC finance and administration manager Lisa Boase in developing and implementing green initiatives for the benefit of employees, offenders, centre stakeholders and the broader community.
One of the major environmental initiatives at AGCC has been the ongoing support of Brisbane City Council’s ‘2 Million Trees’ project — which aims to plant two million trees in the city by 2012.
The centre has also established a partnership with Habitat Brisbane, another Brisbane City Council program, which sees volunteer bushcare groups
restoring local creeks, waterways and parks.
AGCC has built a greenhouse at the centre that is used for the propagation of native grass seedlings for planting in the bushland care areas. By the end of March, over 5000 seedlings had been propagated in the greenhouse.
AGCC staff and family members have also been actively involved in the project, participating in a ‘Plant a Tree’ day in November last year and then in March, planting 1000 native grass seedlings propagated by AGCC prisoners.
AGCC’s nomination for the Minister’s Award also highlighted the centre’s work in planting 500 eucalyptus trees within the prison to provide fodder for koalas at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, recycling projects and the ongoing education of prisoners on environmental sustainability.
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