From Roper to Regional Prisons: a story of habilitation

Abstract

Among its recommendations, the 1989 Report of the Ministerial Committee of Inquiry into the Prison System included the establishment of "Habilitation Centres" in the community as an alternative to imprisonment. This idea has recently undergone a revival with the last year's Turuki Turuki report from the Safe and Effective Justice advisory board's report which recommended the "gradual replacement of most prisons with community-based habilitation centres;" and the Green Party adopting the idea of Habilitation Centres as an election policy.
Habilitation Centres were legislated for in the Criminal Justice Amendment Act 1993 (s102), the same amendment which introduced the sentence of home detention (s103). Four pilot centres were formed, with Christchurch's Salisbury Street Foundation (SSF) the only one that Newbold credits with success. While the SSF is still in operation, the idea of habilitation centres as part of New Zealand's criminal justice system