National Australia Bank backs scheme to keep parolees out of prison

 

The National Australia Bank and not-for-profit groups will partner in a NSW government scheme aimed at stopping offenders returning to prison once they’re on parole.

The five-year program, On Tracc (Transition Reintegration and Community Connection), will support up to 3,900 parolees after they leave prison and beyond to help them avoid re-offending and being locked up again within the year.

On Tracc will be delivered by Australian Community Support Organisation (ACSO) and arbias, who will provide intensive and individual support to parolees, particularly in the first 16 weeks after they are released, helping them to adjust to life outside.

The program is an example of social impact investment in action, where the outcomes paid for are social, rather than economic, although there is an obvious intersection between the two. One of the main aims of On Tracc is to reduce the social and financial costs of reoffending and ease the pressure on NSW’s jails, which are some of the most over-stretched in the country.

NAB and ACSO are investing in the scheme and government payments are dependent on the outcomes achieved by On Tracc, which are sure to include targets on levels of recidivism and incarceration.

The amount of investment and the potential returns have not been released by the government.

NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian said On Tracc was the first social impact investment-funded program in Australia to target parolees.

“NSW is leading the way when it comes to Social Impact Investment – and it allows us to address serious challenges facing our community while harnessing the expertise of the not-for-profit sector as well as financial support from private investors,” Ms Berejiklian said.

NSW Minister for Corrections David Elliott said the program would support the state government’s commitment to reduce reoffending by five per cent by 2019.

“Rehabilitation services must continue once an offender is released, to ensure they do not return to prison. This program is designed to help parolees to reintegrate into the community and improve community safety,” Mr Elliott said.

On Tracc is part of a new wave of social impact investment schemes in NSW and it is the third such scheme in the state.

It follows the Newpin Social Benefit Bond (SBB) – to return children from out-of-home care to their parents and the Benevolent Society SBB implemented in 2013 to keep kids with their families and out of foster care, where safe.

You can read more about both schemes here in a 2015 Government News story.

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