Corrections Victoria’s Reintegration Assessment

Anna Henry

Corrections Victoria, Department of Justice and Community Safety
General Manager, Rehabilitation and Reintegration Branch

Anna Henry is the General Manager of Rehabilitation and Reintegration Branch within Corrections Victoria. The Rehabilitation and Reintegration Branch is responsible for the design and development of programs and services that support positive behaviour change and reintegration. She has worked for over 20 years in Corrections, commencing as Community Corrections Officer, then delivering programs and projects in prisons and helping establish new facilities such as Corella Place and Ravenhall Correctional Facility.

Alistair Moles

Corrections Victoria
Manager, Transition and Reintegration Unit

Alistair Moles is the Manager of the Transition and Reintegration Unit, within the Rehabilitation and Reintegration Branch. He has previously worked at the Judy Lazarus Transition Centre as a Transition Officer there, and more recently as Acting Operations Manager. The Transition and Reintegration Unit is responsible for the development, design, implementation and oversight of programs, pathways and initiatives that aim to assist prisoners in their transition into the system, minimise the impact of their imprisonment and to prepare for their release and transition into the community.

Measuring a prisoner’s reintegration needs – the practical and emotional supports they require to lead functional, personally fulfilling and responsible lives after release from prison – often falls outside the scope of prisoner risk and treatment need measures. While an assessment of prisoners’ reintegration needs enables prioritised access to relevant support services in accordance with identified needs, the availability of comprehensive Reintegration Assessment tools, both nationally and internationally, is extremely limited.
Throughout 2018, Corrections Victoria (CV) developed and implemented a new Reintegration Assessment tool – in the form of an interview guide which scores and prioritises need across 11 areas which are aligned to 7 critical reintegration domains. CV considers the increased system-wide visibility of reintegration need and service prioritisation created by the tool to be a significant advancement in reintegration practice.
Development of the tool involved a comprehensive literature review, engagement of Swinburne University to identify key needs to be captured, and extensive consultation and input from prisoners, prison staff and post-release support service providers. Reintegration Assessment development and implementation has highlighted a range of considerations and learnings associated with the tool structure and application within CV’s broader Reintegration Pathway for prisoners, support for staff administering the tool and application of tool scores and subsequent referral processes. These learnings are readily transferable to other jurisdictions looking to refine their reintegration assessment processes. CV would be delighted to have the opportunity to share the key learnings of developing and implementing a Reintegration Assessment tool at the 2019 Reintegration Puzzle Conference