Prisoners passing the test

OUT ON LICENCE: NZAA sales assistant Anne-Marie Farmer puts a teenaged inmate at Hawke's Bay Prison through the driver licence learner test yesterday. PHOTO/DUNCAN BROWN

He's 17 and going places, when he gets out of jail.

With a piece of paper saying he's got a Learner Licence, which he'll proudly show to his mates and say: "Get your licence. Just you don't have go to jail to get it."

On a sunny morning at Hawke's Bay Prison, there's a simple life-change going on for 17 inmates who, by midday, should all have met the requirement of correctly answering at least 32 of the 35 questions in the Learner Licence tests.

The chances are good, for the East Coast Better Public Service Driver Licence Project so far has 100 per cent success in getting its at-risk students across the first line, a figure which resonates with the 17-year-old who proudly reveals he's just passed the test. Got them all right, the first time he's got 100 per cent at anything.

"Not even a brain test," he reckons. Now he's looking forward to getting a job, hopefully in the wool industry.

A fellow inmate in the Youth Unit, who says he's driven illegally lots of times, looks forward to getting out and showing the paper to his older brothers and sisters. "They'll be happy," he says. "They'll be proud of me, they'll finally let me drive their cars."

Call it family service. The brothers and sisters don't have licences: "Yet."

He now has some aspirations, like wanting to be an engineer, and ECBPSDL project co-ordinator Natalie Hazelwood, unit principal Correction officer Lawrence Ereatara and Hawke's Bay Prison director George Massingham agree that's just one of the boxes ticked by the project, which is unique to the East Coast.

Yesterday, inmates were being tested by the AA's mobile licence testing service, and it included adult inmates in another wing on one of six visits this year aimed at getting up to 120 inmates on the Learner licences.

The target group, based on statistics for both criminal offending and road crashes, is those aged under 25, with ultimate goals of reducing all the worst statistics, via enhancing employment opportunities, and aspirations not only for the individuals but also their families.

For some, part of it's another stage in the literacy and numeracy path, and esteem and confidence.

As one youth walks towards the testing room, he's doing last minute intense swot from a piece of paper he holds in his hand, and a staff member observes he's one they worry might be let-down by his lack of confidence.

A while later, he emerges, looks across to the courtyard, and smiles.