Well-known Shoalhaven man Anthony Longbottom, who is currently working on a pilot program in an ACT prison aimed at providing Indigenous inmates with the skills to survive in the outside world, has called for a similar scheme for the South Coast.
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Longbottom, who was formerly the Aboriginal Liaison Officer at the Shoalhaven Police Local Area Command, believes a similar scheme could be extremely beneficial at the South Coast Correctional Centre at South Nowra.
More than a third of the inmates at the South Nowra jail are Indigenous. Of the total population of 457 inmates, 141 or 30.8 per cent, are Indigenous.
Longbottom is a senior mentor and community engagement officer with the scheme run by Worldview Foundation at Canberra’s Alexander Maconochie Center, which aims to unlock the human potential of individuals being released from the center.
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The scheme uses an innovative holistic model to reversing disadvantage and allow participants to achieve their individual potential.
“It is a really good program and I’m seeing the benefits first hand,” Longbottom said.
“I could see this being a real advantage at the South Nowra jail, where there are a number of Indigenous inmates.”
When people first come out of a prison, they will make mistakes because they've come out of a really controlled environment. But it's important that those little mistakes, like smoking on the job or not presenting to work properly, don't cost them too dearly.
- Worldview mentor Anthony Longbottom.
Worldview has partnered with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, ACT Government and Westpac Foundation and has 20 participants in the pilot re-integration program.
The opportunity is underpinned by personal accountability and forward focused self-development and provides accommodation, guaranteed employment, exercise, health, nutrition, goal setting, life planning and mindset coaching for success.
Mr Longbottom said four key elements have been identified in easing the path to rehabilitation - good health and nutrition; regular, worthwhile employment; quality housing, and the right level of support.
Currently the opportunity is only for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander male detainees, however it is now expanding to females.
“The plan is to help in any area of society where extreme disadvantage is prevalent,” he said.
“Disadvantage often leads to substance abuse, welfare dependency, poor education and health which can all manifest into poor decision making and ultimately incarceration.
“Worldview is breaking the intergenerational cycles of welfare dependency, incarceration and will close-the-gap for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian families.”
He said the Worldview opportunity was not a handout.
“It is a strength based opportunity which gives good people and their families a real chance at living a meaningful life that many detainees dream of, but do not have the skills or resources to achieve without support and guidance,” he said.
Quite often when inmates step into freedom there is uncertainty about the everyday things that most of us simply take for granted - how to shop on a budget for the right food, how to cook a nutritious meal, when to get up in the morning, plan and pack a lunch for work and at the end of the day, when to go to bed.
“It’s a often tougher journey than they thought,” Mr Longbottom said. “The program is about breaking the cycle of recidivism and providing them with the tools to be able to survive on the outside.
“When people first come out of a prison, they will make mistakes because they've come out of a really controlled environment. But it's important that those little mistakes, like smoking on the job or not presenting to work properly, don't cost them too dearly.
“We help them reset their life and ease them into the type of structures that everyone else takes for granted.”
It’s a often tougher journey than they thought when inmates are released. The program is about breaking the cycle of recidivism and providing them with the tools to be able to survive on the outside.
- Worldview mentor Anthony Longbottom.
Worldview Technologies is a national company that specialises in the recycling of computers and data-handling devices, and in providing technical equipment and services, which it uses to provide transitionary employment to team members.
Putting the ex-detainees straight into paid work generates revenue for the sponsor company.
The latest data showed 90.9 per cent of the 110 Indigenous men and women behind bars at the Alexander Maconochie Centre have been incarcerated before. Young people are also dealt a poor hand by the justice system, with a recent four-year review finding that Indigenous young people were 26 times more likely to be held in detention than non-Indigenous.
Albert Barker, 38, readily admits he's made mistakes in his life, mostly because of substance abuse.
But now for the first time in a long time he's drug-free and feeling healthy, he has his own place to live, a good job with a steady income, and is keen to study horticulture.
Three months out of prison, he thanks Worldview Foundation for his fresh start and says he wants to build his interpersonal skills so he, in turn, can mentor others.
He's enjoying the simple pleasures of an ordinary, free life.
"I'm making a wage, exercising, paying rent, managing my own money and cooking my own meals. It feels good to do all that," he said.
Mr Longbottom and fellow mentor Doug Logan spent 13 weeks in prison working with their first group of detainees, five days a week.
They believe the support structure is right, and there's a high degree of personal accountability from those who have signed on.
“This is different to a government-run program because it starts with us, within the prison, and then our support carries all the way through. We ask people to make a huge, personal commitment to change their future,” Mr Longbottom said.
“We promise them if they fully commit to this program and to us, we will commit to them.”
In NSW the number of people in prison hit record levels last year despite more than a decade of crime declines, with women and Indigenous people locked up at a faster rate than others.
Harsher sentences, more police powers, changes to bail laws and parole conditions plus improved technology and security have put more people in jail as more crimes are solved.
Deputy director of the Australian Institute of Criminology Rick Brown said both women and Indigenous people have increasingly been incarcerated at a faster rate than the general population but questioned why.
The state’s prison population is starting to decline, with fewer people in jail on remand and adult prisoners are at a six-month low. But the number of sentenced prisoners rose by 2.1 per cent over the past six months.
BOSCAR (NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research) said the state's prison population is expected to reach 13,720 by September next year.