Offenders left in limbo after Corrections suspends community work

Community work in Nelson Bays has been suspended due to Covid. Photo / Tracy Neal

Community work has been suspended in some parts of the country considered at high risk of Covid - a move that has resulted in at least one offender being able to complete his sentence without having to do all of the work required.

It's also got some lawyers worried that people going through the courts will be in breach of their community service, through no fault of their own, and potentially face further charges because they've not been able to complete the hours required.

The move comes as the Department of Corrections has reduced staffing levels and suspended community work in areas where there is deemed to be a "very high level of community transmission".

Those areas include The Northern Region (Including Taitokerau, Waitemata, Auckland and Manukau); the Murupara area, Bay of Plenty District; Palmerston North area and Nelson Bays at protection stage three settings - its most restrictive.

The remainder of the country is operating in a setting where community work can operate with lower numbers and with distancing.

Nelson lawyer Tony Bamford told Open Justice the hefty restrictions meant clients had been finding it difficult to complete their sentences within the statutory six-month timeframe.

Nelson lawyer Tony Bamford pictured in the Nelson District Court. Photo / Tracy Neal

"As I understand it the local Corrections service has suspended community work because of the presence of Omicron in the area, which will mean no one will be able to do community work either at the community work centres or at community placements.

"We're going to run into a real problem with clients being charged potentially with breach offences through no fault of their own, because they've ended up not being able to complete the hours."

A Nelson judge recently ordered one offender's sentence complete, with more than 40 hours remaining.

Kane Webby appeared in the Nelson District Court recently for breaching community work and a sentence review, when his lawyer argued it was because Covid restrictions meant his client was having trouble finishing his community work.

Judge Jo Rielly noted it was not the first case that day with a similar back story, before sending Webby on his way.

Corrections was one of the country's largest government departments and employed around 10,000 staff, the majority of whom worked with offenders in prisons or in community corrections sites across New Zealand.

General manager probation, Darius Fagan, said community work and face to face reporting in the regions mentioned had been suspended, "unless risk and assessment determined otherwise". He said it was to ensure the safety of staff and people it managed, and to reduce the chance of Covid-19 spreading in the community.

Corrections has had to manage people with Covid across a number of sites. Since March 2020 it has managed 82 people confirmed to have Covid around the country. As at February 9, the figure was two confirmed cases.

It had expected a higher level of community transmission, which increased the level of risk to its staff and the people it managed when the Government moved to the nationwide traffic light system.

Nelson Lawyer Kelly Hennessey told Open Justice the problem had been mounting since Covid emerged two years ago.

"It's a whole grey area – it's a mess."

Community work is a low-tariff sentence imposed by the court that requires people to do unpaid work in the community as punishment for their offending. It was designed to provide people with the opportunity to take responsibility for their offending and learn new work skills and habits.

People can be sentenced to between 40 and 400 hours of community work, with the number of hours determined by a judge.

Hennessey had also noticed discrepancies in reporting, including that clients were not being provided with proof they had been excused from community work, when they were turned away due to the current restrictions. Prior to the suspension of community work, people were missing out through restrictions on the numbers able to be carried in Corrections vans, due to social distancing requirements.

"They turn up on a Saturday or Wednesday morning and might be told there's no room in the van for them because of the limits on passengers.

"There may be a record on Probation's side, but the client isn't being issued with anything that proves what's happened. Unless clients are taking exact diary notes every time they go in… and even then they don't get anything in writing to say what's going on, so it's their word against the probation officer's word.

"Generally, that doesn't work in the client's best interest."

Fagan confirmed that no written documentation was provided to an individual if they were excused on any particular day, but this information was captured on Corrections' database and was made available to the court on request.

Tony Bamford said there had always been questions about the accuracy of record systems.

"Consistently, I have clients turning up saying they have completed a certain number of hours where Corrections records say a completely different number.

"I've had clients who've been able to establish they have completed more hours than Corrections have recorded. It's not a very fool proof system, but a system based on trust, especially when it involves some of the people we deal with has inherent problems."

Corrections said credit for community work may be used when it was unable to operate.