1. The Development of a Disability Action Plan for a Correctional System – The Challenges and the Lessons Learnt Peter Persson - Corrections Victoria David Arblaster – Diversity Unit, Department of Justice ACSO 3 rd Forensic Disabilities Conference September 2007

2. Pre 1 January 2007 Getting There but First … the Final Result

3. Outline  Context  About Corrections Victoria  Disability Action Plans  Template  Lessons learnt  Process  Environmental Analysis  Governance  Development  Implementation

4. Context About Corrections Victoria  Corrections Victoria is part of the Department of Justice, which also includes courts and police  Corrections Victoria manages: 53 Community Correctional Services locations 11 public prisons & oversees the contracts of 2 private prisons Prison population – 4,100 Offenders on Community-Based Orders – 8,000

5. Context Disability Action Plans  Victorian Government requirement for all government departments to develop DAP’s  Department of Justice Disability Action Plan 2005-2008  Few examples nationally and internationally of DAP’s in a correctional setting

6. Context Disability Action Plan Template  Organisational environment and a favourable climate for implementation (Innes 2006) 1. Senior management commitment 2. Develop a formal Disability policy 3. Promote sense of ownership 4. Allocate Action Plan implementation responsibilities to specific individuals 5. Allocate priorities and ensure careful financial management 6. Don’t over-commit 7. Integrate Disability Action Plans with other plans

7.  Lengthy development and consultation process  Long term enterprise Lessons Learnt: Process

8. Lessons Learnt: ‘Environmental’ Analysis  Template for scan  e.g. Mark Moore’s Strategic Triangle  Social Policy hooks  Low priority in Government agenda

9. Lessons Learnt: ‘Environmental’ Analysis  Criminological trends (Garland 2002)  Forensic Disability Specific (Rockowitz 1989) Definition of the Population Relationship Issues System Issues Offender Issues

10.  Challenge in having to access to expertise (Correctional, disability, other) and decision-makers  Possible solutions - working group (experts) and project board (decisionmakers) Lessons Learnt: Governance

11.  Increased operational involvement  Structure of the organisation is a factor (centralised easier – decentralised harder?) Lessons Learnt: Governance … continued

12.  Join it to a theoretical basis  Need a vision  3 levels of the Plan What have we got now/quick fixes Medium term goals Vision – inclusion and equity Lessons Learnt: Development

13.  Natural tendency – least resource intensive solution  Interplay between social policy, human rights and finite resources Lessons Learnt: Development …continued

14.  Consider the scope and content of plan – this drives ‘who’ the key players are  Risk management – a double edged sword? Lessons Learnt: Development …continued

15. Lessons Learnt: Implementation  Guard against the relaxation factor  Importance of quick ‘wins’  Key operational champions to advise on roll-out

16. Lessons Learnt: Implementation …continued  Key operational champions to advise on roll-out  Get the “plan” out of head office  Need to ‘test’ and ‘re-test’ assumptions

17. Conclusion  Environmental analysis important  Long term proposition (one plan after another)  Use templates or previous plans (HREOC) Vision Governance Implementation Development Test-Retest

18. The Far Side of Forensic Disability

19. The Development of a Disability Action Plan for a Correctional System – The Challenges and the Lessons Learnt Peter Persson - Corrections Victoria David Arblaster - Diversity Unit, Department of Justice ACSO 3 rd Forensic Disabilities Conference September 2007