New Zealand's special treatment units: the development and implementation of intensive treatment for high-risk male prisoners

Abstract

In the late 1980s, New Zealand developed two highly innovative residential treatment programmes for serious offenders that blended together the strengths of structured cognitive behavioural group programmes and therapeutic community approaches. Since the mid-1990s this hybrid model – recently advocated as a fruitful direction for future offender programme development – was adopted and further refined for use in New Zealand's four high-risk special treatment units (HRSTUs). We outline the HRSTU model, noting the challenges and potential benefits of providing an intervention that integrates therapy, resocialisation and reintegration experiences for high-risk, high need, low responsivity clients: many with significant psychopathic features. On average, the majority of those referred to HRSTUs complete the programme and make small but significant amounts of change on important treatment goals. But most changes remain tentative, suggesting the importance of more supportive aftercare. Although an earlier evaluation of the first unit to open found the programme to be modestly effective in reducing recidivism, an outcome evaluation currently underway will help establish whether improvements since that time are associated with reductions in disciplinary infractions and recidivism.

Keywords:

• offender rehabilitation
• high-risk prisoners
• treatment model
• psychopathy
• therapeutic community

Acknowledgements

Our thanks to Bronwyn Rutherford, Lucy King and Paul Whitehead for providing current programme information, to Nikki Reynolds for supporting the research that generated these data, and to all the dedicated staff who assisted with data entry.

Notes

1. Now renamed Te Whare Manaakitanga (TWM). The other three units are: Karaka (Waikeria Prison); Puna Tatari (Springhill Prison) and Matapuna (Christchurch prison).

2. The programme manual had suffered ad hoc modifications, therapeutic integrity monitoring, and therapy staff training and supervision was inconsistent.

3. For Maori, the beginning of the New Year, in June.