CRC achievements - past 12 months

Amongst our many achievements, the CRC Transitional Programs have provided intensive long-term casework to 79 people with only 6% returning to prison. The Accommodation Service housed 69 individuals, assisting them to move into independent long-term accommodation with only 13% returning to custody.

CRC has assisted more than 400 families through direct service delivery, linked 17 mentors with mentees and assisted 1,716 people to travel to country correctional centres to visit friends or family members. The Court Support Scheme has provided assistance in the courts to over 48,000 individuals, and via its Intake service, CRC has provided telephone information, support and referral to 549 individuals.

The Jailbreak Health Project put 52 radio programs to air in 2006/07, containing peer-led health promotion messages, songs and poetry from inside NSW correctional centres. CRC also assisted over 200 program participants of the NSW Drug Diversion Initiatives; the NSW Drug Court and MERIT Program and has conducted more than 30 training courses for government and non-government services regarding the issues facing prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families.

Underpinning all our work is the creation of new opportunities for the inclusion of people who would otherwise be pushed to the margins of society. Through shifting the focus of crime-prevention from locks, keys and bars, to targeted community programs, we have succeeded in reducing factors that lead to offending and the consequent suffering of victims. Our individual program reports provide details of program content and outcomes.

CRC has established a number of capacity-building initiatives over the past 12 months. These are aimed at addressing the unmet needs of organisations working across the human services’ sector.
We have developed a one-day intensive training program for government and non-government organisations on the issues facing offenders upon release from prison. The ‘From Prison to Community’ training aims to increase knowledge and understanding of the NSW prison population for services. Topics covered include - the demographics of the prison population; the journey through the court and prison systems; the impact of incarceration on individuals, families and communities; the transitional support needs of offenders and their families; and discussion
of strategies for the provision of services to this group. Participants are also provided with a variety of resources, including comprehensive handouts and the NSW Exit Checklist. 101 Department of Housing employees have undertaken the training to date and feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Comments include:
“(The) Training was very useful and interesting;
(it) gave us a better view on the process and emotional stress of ex-offenders. Trainers were very clear and very knowledgeable.”
“This is the most interesting and informative
training I have attended.” And “Very Interesting – thoroughly enjoyed course! Recommend it”.

Our Connect Programs have provided training, information, resources, advice and support to services in the Blacktown, Fairfield, Bankstown and Central Coast regions of NSW on the issues facing Families of Prisoners. Once again the feedback has been extremely positive and we hope to expand the Connect Projects over the next twelve months.

More on our achievements in annual report - download