Background: Offenders often have a relative lack of marketable skills and limited history of work experience. Correctional services across jurisdictions have attempted to remedy this by providing vocational training and work experience in custody through correctional industries. The goal is to provide offenders with a means to develop work ethic while learning valuable vocational skills and gaining practical work experience. These activities aim to assist offenders in obtaining employment after release from prison, with the view that doing so will improve an offender's re-entry into the... [+] Show more
Background: Offenders often have a relative lack of marketable skills and limited history of work experience. Correctional services across jurisdictions have attempted to remedy this by providing vocational training and work experience in custody through correctional industries. The goal is to provide offenders with a means to develop work ethic while learning valuable vocational skills and gaining practical work experience. These activities aim to assist offenders in obtaining employment after release from prison, with the view that doing so will improve an offender's re-entry into the community and ultimately reduce recidivism.
Aim: The primary aim of this study was to examine vocational training program uptake and the relationship between training and post-release employment among offenders who had undertaken vocational training while in custody. The study also examined patterns of employment over the course of reintegration into the community and associations with recidivism over the follow-up period.
Method: The study sample consisted of 255 parolees who had completed one of 12 identified vocational training courses in a Corrective Services NSW (CSNSW) correctional centre between March 2010 and November 2013 and who had been released to parole before November 2013. Demographic data, criminal history data, case file notes and recidivism data for this cohort of 255 parolees were extracted from the CSNSW Offender Integrated Management System (OIMS).
Results: Offenders in the study sample participated in vocational training programs that were oriented towards heavy machinery operation and building and construction skills. A high proportion of offenders obtained post-release employment in industries that were congruent with the type of training received. Parolees who were employed at three months post-release were significantly more likely to be employed at 12 and 18 months post-release, and were also significantly less likely to be reconvicted. Results also showed that offenders who obtained full-time employment during the follow-up period were significantly less likely to be reconvicted compared to those who found less stable part-time employment. There were indications that the different categories of vocational training program were associated with differences in the likelihood of finding employment and the hazard of reconviction over the follow-up period.
Conclusion: Most parolees found post-release employment in an industry that was congruent with their vocational training in custody. In addition, parolees who found employment in the post-release transitional period were more likely to stay employed and less likely to reoffend over time. These findings could indicate that vocational training contributes to the employability of parolees, which may in turn influence recidivism outcomes. Further research comparing outcomes to an equivalent comparison group is needed to better understand causal effects of vocational training in custody.
Excerpt from publication.
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