Elise Archer,Attorney-General
Jeremy Rockliff,Minister for Education and Training
Tasmanian prisoners will be provided with more training pathways from the time they enter prison to when they leave and beyond through a strengthened partnership between the Tasmania Prison Service and TasTAFE.
The agreement, which came into effect on 1 October, establishes a new prison education model, with a TasTAFE Campus incorporated into the Risdon Prison site.
Attorney-General and Minister for Corrections Elise Archer said prison education programs reduce the risk of prisoners re-offending and enable them to make a positive contribution to the community upon their release.
"Each student will have an education plan linked to both their sentence and their work within the prison, setting out a pathway for them to continue with training or work options on their release from prison."
"The education plan also assists them in building skill-sets to achieve a full qualification while in prison or after they are released," said Minister Archer.
Minister for Education and Training Jeremy Rockliff said the training caters to a variety of sentence lengths including short courses and industry-focused skill sets, as well as literacy and numeracy support.
"Training is also linked to Tasmania's growth industries such as construction, hospitality and allied trades to foster future employability for prisoners upon their release."
"TasTAFE has run successful training at Risdon Prison for a number of years, and this new model will build on these foundations and increase the number of prisoners in training in prison," said Minister Rockliff.
