New Zealand's prison population is forecast to rise by more than 4000 over the next decade. The government wants to reduce that and a key way to do so is to stop prisoners re-offending.
Among the programmes aimed at reducing recidivism are education programmes through organisations like the Howard League, where volunteers help prisoners get educational qualifications so they can move into paid employment once they are released.
Author Catherine Robertson is one of those volunteers, she is working with an inmate at Rimutaka Prison to help him earn a National Certificate in Small Business.
But she says the system is frustrating, slow and error-ridden and education programmes can be very difficult to access.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
