Adult Prison Work Camps--Achieving Rehabilitation Outcomes in Partnership With the Community (From Reducing Criminality--Partnerships and Best Practices, P 1-8, 2000, Adam Graycar, ed. -- See NCJ-186333)

• NCJ Number: 186365
• Author(s): Kathy Csaba
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 8 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

This paper examines the use of adult prison work camps to achieve rehabilitation outcomes in partnership with the community.

Abstract

Based in small rural communities, work camps provide select minimum-security prisoners the opportunity to live in the bush away from the prison environment, to work on rewarding community projects, and to interact with the general community on a daily basis. The camps’ primary goals are reparation and rehabilitation, and to increase prisoners’ chances of making a successful transition from prison to the community upon release. The paper observes that any evaluation of the work camps program must include important qualitative data, in particular the perceptions of all stakeholders, including host communities, and participants’ perceptions of the personal benefits of the program. It concludes that Western Australia’s work camps are leading the way in providing community reparation outcomes, contributing to reducing recidivism, and increasing prisoners’ chances of making successful transitions from prison to the community. Notes, references