Earnings, experience justify Justfor

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 2, Issue 14, 4 September 1984, Page 1

Earnings, experience justify Justfor

By

Mark

Casey

Earnings of over $9 million are predicted for Justfor, the Justice Department's central North Island forestry project. Already the scheme is grossing over $500,000 a year. The logs, sawn timber, posts and poles produced by Justfor are sold to private companies by tender or negotiation. Ironically, the Forest Service, the intended client, could not afford to tender competitively. Justfor has two objectives: providing prison inmates with opportunities for meaningful work and returning an optimum profit to the state from the forests involved.

Inmates of the Tongariro, Rangipo and Waikune minimum security prisons work in 3700ha of forests and the $700,000 Waikune Mill specifically set up to process Justfor timber. The Justfor management determines how many hours a specific job would take if done by a skilled private contractor. It then pays the prisons (ultimately the state coffers) for that number of hours at the award rate to do the job. The prison labour force may take more man-hours than a private' contractor to do the same job, but Justfor keeps its operation economically viable by paying a contract price rather than an hourly rate. Prison inmates are clearly benefiting from constructive

work, according to Keith Hounslow, superintendant of Waikune Prison. He says they see results for their effort as the raw material becomes finished product in the Waikune Mill. Inmates may lack skill and experience, says Keith Houns'ow, but they don't lack energy. A fundamental problem for the management is the high turnover of the basically unskilled workforce. The prisoners' terms tend to be between three and twelve months. Mill supervisor, Colin Baker, is planning to issue certificates confirming the type and length of work done by individual prisoners, which may help them get further training in Mill work later.