Eight prisoners at Manawatu Prison recently celebrated graduating with their Level 2 National Certificate in Building, Construction, and Allied Trade Skills (BCATS).

This is the ninth BCATS programme delivered over the past two years at Manawatu Prison, taught by Universal College Of Learning (UCOL) staff in partnership with Corrections Inmate Employment at a purpose built workshop facility within the prison.

"The majority of prisoners have limited education or work experience. Corrections Inmate Employment provides prisoners with the opportunity to gain new skills through work experience and training," says Corrections Inmate Employment Acting Regional Operations Manager, Phil Harman

"This course aims to help prisoners to develop recognised building and construction skills, setting them up to find employment on release into the community, or continue their studies on release," says Phil.

"The BCATS course, while focusing on carpentry and construction, also provides a framework for delivering skills such as work ethic, team work, communication, and embedded numeracy and literacy skills."

"We offer four 10 week courses a year. The results we're getting from the course are great, they're comparable to the results UCOL get from students studying in the community."

"Prisoners gain permanent skills through the course which are registered as unit standards and certificates on the National Qualifications Framework. This provides them with robust qualifications which are transferable if they move to other prisons, and are recognised towards further qualifications if they chose to continue studying -either in prison or once they're released."

"We know from international research that prisoners who undertake education and vocational training are better equipped to find sustainable employment on release, which helps reduce their risk of re-offending and ultimately makes our communities safer," says Mr Harman.