10 Sep 2009

Halfway house to be built in Wellington

12:00 pm on 10 September 2009

A halfway house for long term prisoners is to be built in Wellington.

The Prison Fellowship support group says the house will offer 24/7 management support for a group of seven released inmates.

Currently, the Corrections Department contracts Prisoners Aid and the Rehabilitation Society and the Salvation Army to provide "supported accommodation" throughout the country.

The service, for inmates who are at high risk of re-offending, involves providing flats or houses with supervision for three months.

Prison Fellowship operations manager Barry Timms says the Wellington halfway house will be for people who had been in prison for up to 20 years: they will stay there for "as long as it takes", but at least two years.

The house will be operational in the next three years.