Noteworthy Practice – Australia
Remand Domestic Violence intervention
In 2016 the New South Wales (NSW) Government issued several priorities to public sector agencies to tackle intractable problems such as homelessness, suicide, and recidivism. One of the priorities was to reduce the proportion of domestic violence perpetrators re-offending within twelve months by 5%.
One of the strategies that Corrective Services NSW (CSNSW) initiated in response was to partner with Legal Aid NSW to establish a short intervention for inmates on remand who have been charged with domestic violence-related offences.
Over 11,000 inmates are remanded into NSW custody every year due to bail refusal or inability to meet bail conditions. Remand populations in all jurisdictions across Australia face similar constraints to eligibility and participation in programs.
A significant issue in the implementation of programs for this cohort is the unknown length of time in custody, complicated by legal status and court attendance requirements.
Galouzis and Corben (2016) found the remand population in CSNSW to be high volume and transient with 22% spending less than one week in custody; 45% less than one month; and, 18% of the cohort spent less than 30 days in custody before being released on bail and did not receive a custodial sentence.
Prior to 2016, NSW inmates on remand received fundamental support services, education, vocational training, and support programs for issues such as substance abuse; however, offence-specific (criminogenic) rehabilitation programs were mostly available to sentenced prisoners only.
The main restriction for inclusion of remand inmates in these programs is that all criminogenic programs in NSW contain an ‘offence mapping’ component – and we cannot compel those on remand to discuss details of their offence while court proceedings are ongoing.
There are also limitations in terms of access and resources for programs when the priority in most of these units and the staff is court-related issues, immediate crises, and mental health issues.
Given the high turnover of this cohort and limited time in custody, CSNSW modified our existing 40-hour program for domestic and family violence offenders. The program was adapted for a remand population based on evidence for brief interventions.
Participation in the full program (1) has been found to have a positive impact on reducing re-offending (Zhang et. al. 2019).
The Remand Domestic Violence (DV) intervention is a six-session intervention run at selected correctional centres across NSW.
• Coping – managing emotions
• Change – identifying abuse
• Caring – healthy lifestyle
• Communication
• Choices – action planning
Attendance at the interventions is voluntary, and people can attend as many (or as few) sessions as their circumstances allow. Importantly, the interventions do not require participants to admit guilt or take responsibility for the charges for which they are currently on remand. While domestic violence is discussed, no details of the individual’s charges should be disclosed.
Some facilitators feel the voluntary nature of the intervention is one of the greatest benefits. Incarcerated adults have their autonomy stripped and are highly controlled in the jail environment.
They’re told when to move, sleep, and eat, that this is their case plan and, usually, that these are the programs they have to do. The Remand DV program empowers people to make the choice to engage in intervention no matter their motivation.
Note:
(1) This program, EQUIPS Domestic & Family Violence, is part of a suite of five EQUIPS programs that sentenced domestic violence offenders may be required to complete to address all of their criminogenic needs. EQUIPS stands for Explore, Question, Understand, Investigate, Practice & Succeed.
Danielle Matsuo
Danielle Matsuo is the Group Director of Offender Services and Programs, Corrective Services NSW, responsible for over 700 staff who deliver programs and services to people in custody and the community. For the first 12 years of her 23-year career with CSNSW, she worked as a prison psychologist. She is currently completing a PhD considering similarities and differences between men who have committed homicide offences. In her previous role, Danielle was responsible for the development, delivery and ongoing integrity monitoring of all CSNSWs behaviour change programs.
