Prison work: From chain gangs to the leash hand

The Government is putting prisoners to work training puppies and assembling photocopiers.

Corrections Minister Phil Goff today launched a new programme in prisons where inmates would help train mobility dogs.

He also launched a "prisoner employment partnership" where prisoners would assemble new Canon photocopiers and clean old ones.

Auckland Region Women's Corrections Facility prisoners would work with the Mobility Dogs Assistance Trust to raise and train puppies to become mobility assistance dogs.

The dogs are trained to help disabled people and can do tasks ranging from opening doors to picking up a telephone.

The programme would start with two puppies.

"There is a growing demand for these dogs and the trust needs to source additional trainers, training facilities and housing for the dogs during training," Mr Goff said.

"This requires an expansion of the programme and prisoners are ready to help."

He said the scheme would help the community but also give prisoners involved new skills and something to be proud of.

Under the joint partnership between the Department of Corrections and Canon New Zealand around 15 prisoners at Rimutaka Prison and Auckland Region Women's Corrections Facility would be employed assembling new photocopiers and cleaning old ones. Prisoners would also dismantle obsolete printers for recycling.

"This new partnership is a first for Canon anywhere in the world. It will give inmates real jobs and valuable work skills," Mr Goff said.

"The partnership is expected to expand to include machine repair. Canon will pay the department market rates for work undertaken, which will offset the costs of prison employment and skill training programmes."

Prisoners in the scheme would earn New Zealand Qualification Authority accreditation which could go towards a formal engineering qualification.

Mr Goff said prisoners who were able to work on leaving jail were less likely to re-offend.

Under programmes such as Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE), 51 per cent of the total prison population and 66 per cent of sentenced inmates were involved in employment or training.

- NZPA