Wairarapa offender breaches drop

Wairarapa Prisoner's Aid field officer George Groombridge said it was difficult for offenders who served home detention because there were many things to tempt them to breach.

The number of Wairarapa offenders being sentenced to community-based punishments are increasing but fewer offenders are breaching their conditions.

However, the number who have had their sentences cancelled has increased.

Figures released to the Times-Age following an Official Information Act request show during the period July 1, 2008 and June 30, 2009, 130 people were sentenced to Home Detention with 33 breaches. In 2012/13, while there were 202 people sentenced to Home Detention only 30 breached their sentence.

Figures show for the 2008/2009 period, 61 offenders had their sentences cancelled while 95 had their sentences cancelled in the 2012/2013 period.

National Commissioner Corrections Jeremy Lightfoot said the department's main priority was public safety.

Staff managed community-based offenders to ensure they complied with sentences and orders, he said.

Community Work requires offenders to work unpaid in the community and they can be sentenced to between 40 and 400 hours. Community Detention allows offenders to remain in the community with a curfew at a specified address from between two and 84 hours weekly for a period anywhere from two weeks up to six months. Offenders are monitored electronically.

Home Detention is a 24-hour sentence served at an approved address for anywhere from 14 days to 12 months. It is an alternative to imprisonment with the offender monitored electronically 24 hours daily.

Mr Lightfoot said staff were committed to ensuring offenders complied. "The number of breaches demonstrates the department's commitment to upholding the integrity of the sentence and ensuring that offenders are held accountable for any instance of non-compliance."

Wairarapa Prisoner's Aid field officer George Groombridge said it was difficult for offenders who served home detention because there were many things to tempt them to breach. This included people just storming out for a break from the address to going out with friends, as there are no prison walls containing them.

"It's not an easy task. Corrections do a great job with very satisfactory results."

However, prison wasn't the place for them, he said.

"It's hard on the families. They have trouble integrating back into families. They are coming back to the same problems and colleagues that caused the problems in the beginning. You can't stop it. They have to want to change ... [offenders] come back to where the trouble started."

Keeping offenders in the community could help many not to reoffend if they were supported, Mr Groombridge said.

"What everyone forgets is that we are putting the whole family in jail as well. There are a lot of people wasting their talent in prison."