Principles of Punishment, Legislation, Professional Practice-Communication and Strategies, Accountability, Sentence and Prison Management, Behavioral Theory, PP2

This document discusses the principles of punishment, legislation, professional practice-communication and strategies, accountability, sentence and prison management, behavioral theory, and PP2. It covers topics such as the eight principles of punishment, community correctional orders, legislation, duty of care, communication strategies, security ratings for prisoners, objectives of sentence management unit, and transition programs.

Principles of punishment
1. During mid-19th century, imprisonment was deemed as the best mode of punishment to
replace punishment for most capital offences except murder.
2. Coercive purpose is the most recent aim of prisons.
3. The theory of panopticon as developed by Jeremy Bentham has two words; Pan meaning
inmates and opticon meaning being observed. The above theory refers to an institutional
building that is a penitentiary type of a place whereby inmates are being observed by a
single watchman. The inmates though remain unaware of the fact that they not heavily
guarded. The inmates’ lack of knowledge that they are being manned by few individuals
will cause them to act in a way that they are strictly guarded yet they are not.
4.
a) Eight principles of punishment includes;
i. Must be punitive in nature through use of unpleasant painful consequences that
will befall the offender.
ii. Punishment must be initiated for an offence against the law.
iii. Must be administered on the offender by an authorized criminal justice system
iv. Must be directed to the actual offender for purposes of hearing out his defence
v. Punishment must be intentional and should be administered by a human being.
vi. It must deter offenders from committing more crime
vii. It must incapacitate the offender’s normal freedom and liberty
viii. It must send a warning to the community that the legal system will not tolerate
such offence again.
b) The one of the principles of modern rehabilitation has influenced the contents on
Victorian legislations on criminal justice system in various ways; for instance, the
Corrections Act 1986 and Sentencing Act 1991 aims at provides for offender
welfares through offender management framework, community correctional order
program which is rehabilitation supervised outside prisons for low risk offenders
to ensure they do not reoffend, sentence management in prison system among
other correctional services.

Legislation
5. Section 19 of the Corrections Act 1986 will be relevant to a prison officer when
exercising his duties. The section states that prison officers and other officers working in
the prison are subject to the directions of the Governor General of the principle for
purpose of ensuring proper security and efficient management of prisons.
6.
a. According to section 4E of the Bail Act, the court may refuse to grant bail where
the release of the accuse may cause an ‘unacceptable risk’ for instance failing to
attend court when required; interfering with evidence through threat of witnesses ,
obstructing justice, reoffending while on bail or causing danger to the safety of
any other person. The term ‘unaccepted risk’ is not defined by the Bail Act hence
the court will consider surrounding circumstances laid out in section 3AAA of the
Bail Act to determine what constitutes an ‘unacceptable risk.’
b. One of the conditions could be an undertaking to attend court. The condition will
further specify the date and time contained in the undertaking which must be
written and signed pursuant to section 5(1A) of the Bail Act 1977. Roger could
also be subjected to conditions stated under section 5(2A) which include reporting
to a police station, geographical exclusions, complying with curfews among
others.
c. The court may impose a fine on an offender alongside a community correction
order as provided under section 43 of the sentencing Act 1991
d. Roger’s crime is a level 11 charge attracting a maximum fine of 5 penalty units as
provided by the table under section 109(2) of the Sentencing Act 1991
e. Community Corrections orders (CCOs) are provided for and discussed under part
3A of the Sentencing Act 1991
f. The following are the conditions applicable to all CCOs as stated by section45(1)
(a-f) of the Sentencing Act 1991
I. The offender under CCO must not commit an offence punishable by
imprisonment whether within or outside Victoria.
II. Strict compliance of the offender to any requirements or obligations
provided for by regulations.

III. Mandatory reporting of the offender to the secretary and impromptu visits
from the secretary during the period of the CCO.
IV. Mandatory report of the offender to the community corrections center
within 2 working days upon the order commencing to operate or coming
into force.
V. If the offender changes the address or employment he must ensure he
notifies the secretary within two working days.
VI. The offender will only leave Victoria upon being given permission by the
secretary. It could be a general permission or permission relating to a
specific issue.
VII. Offender must observe strict compliance of any order issued by the
secretary to ensure that the offender complies with the CCO.
7. The maximum period that can be imposed by a court on a CCO is 5years which is in
respect of 3 offences or more under CCOs ordered by a magistrate court or more than one
offence for under CCOs given by the Supreme Court. The periods for CCOs vary with
number of offences as provided for under section 38 of the Sentencing Act 1991
8. Roger will be convicted since it is an offence to breach a CCO and the penalty is an
imprisonment of 3 months or a fine of up to $4,550.10. For those who have breached the
conditions of CCO and committed another offence, they will also be convicted for that
particular offence in accordance with the Sentencing Act 1991 and if the offence
committed if punishable by imprisonment they will be imprisoned for such a term as
required by law depending on the offence committed.
9. Pursuant to section 47 of the Sentencing Act 1991, the court may attach additional
conditions which may aid in transformation and rehabilitation of the life of the offender.
For instance in the case scenario of Roger the court may on top of anger management
require the offender to be subjected to drug treatment to remove addiction or require the
offer to spend up to 20 hours a week doing community service so as to bond well with
the community. The court may also issue an order restricting the offender from visiting
certain places which might worsen up his condition.
10. The advantage of home detention was to facilitate the court grant a post-sentence or a
pre-release period to the accused. The accused though has to make an official application

for home detention and give his consent which will also be accompanied by family
members’ consent allowing home detention.
11. Professional practice-communication and strategies
12. According to Standard Guidelines For Corrections in Australia(SGCA) Revised version
2010 page 7, the following are the three main principles guiding the management of
offenders under community corrections;
a. As a case manager under the CCO program, one must always implement the court
requirements or any other releasing authority’s conditions, while ensuring community
and victim safety. The manager should also be coordinating with the offender to
reduce chances of reoffending and promoting social reunion with the victim.
b. The case manager should assess the security risk of the victim including the risk of
recidivism. The assessment also entails addressing the individual criminogenic needs
and other special needs
c. The manager should ensure that the community correctional services offered to the
offender are designed to acknowledge the offender’s dignity, potential for change and
worth to the community.
13. Community corrections officer has to work in partnership with family members and all
the other stake holders of the offender, the officer therefore has to use the case plan to
make the offender fully knowledgeable of the requirements for compliance with the order
and consequences for breach through the case plan system. The information above should
be presented to the offender in both oral and written format as provided for under section
3.11 of the SGCA Revised edition 2010.
14. The offender has to be advised by the case manager or community corrections officer that
any information obtained from the offender during the period of community service is
confidential except where the law requires a mandatory disclosure as provided for under
section of the privacy Act 1988. The act therefore provides for the Australian Privacy
Principles (APP) which established the standard for collection and dissemination of
personal information by public agencies. The standard includes the manner of collection,
purpose, storage, alteration, permitted use of the information among other standards and
principles.

15. Duty of care is a legal obligation imposed by an individual to another under the law of
torts. The obligation requires individual to act with a reasonable standard. Should their
actions fall below that standard they would have breached that duty. Duty of care is one
of the elements under the tort of negligence. The most important element under tort of
negligence is duty of care and breach of that duty.
16.
a. In such a scenario where the client in involuntary, the CCO officer has to start
with building a good rapport with the client. The officer should however stay
focused on his expectations and try to identify the required goals to be achieved.
The officer will then have to identify both negotiable and non-negotiable aspects
of the intervention. The officer will then proceed on agreeing with the client on
how they are going to measure the progress of their goals and that will including
having anger management classes.
b. The following serve as very important communication strategies the prison officer
can use to communicate with Roger; use of courteous, attentive and supportive
language; active listening, seeking clarifications through questioning, asking open
ended questions, empathy, avoiding assumptions and prejudgments among others.
c. Feedback is very important and helps an individual improve on his working style.
Feedback will help one change the way he converses with clients, the contents of
the information said to the clients and how the message is said for instance it
could help one talk while calm, fluent, clear and assertive. That feedback will help
me as the prison officer know how to talk to depressed clients like Roger.
d. As a prison worker one might require feedback on clear directions so as to avoid
doing mistakes due to misunderstanding caused by poor communication skills.
e. Some of the relevant characteristics of assertiveness to this case scenario of Roger
that will help a prison officer relate with him effectively, is being emphatic,
making suggestions without use of mandatory words like should, distinguishing
opinions from facts and being sincere and clear
f. Failing to yell to Roger but assigning him to do very difficult tasks without
informing him the reason behind such difficult assignments.
17.

A. I will first by creating a calm environment prior to the angry incident then begin
asking questions like what makes him angry, who makes him angry, how often
does he get angry, type of thoughts coming to his mind when he is angry, actions
taken when angry, feelings during anger and what cools them down among other
questions.
B. The options are very numerous under Bowie’s strategy. I could decide to seek
back in case violence persists, leave the offender to cool take evasive self
defence, negotiate the way out calmly, more than one option among others.
18. Pioneer of the breach, provide evidence of the breach, provide your rectification
Accountability
19. The five possible security ratings for prisoners include;
A1 High security
A2 Maximum Security
B Medium security
C restricted minimum security
C1 minimum security
C2 minimum security
Roger will be placed under C2 minimum security type of prison because his
imprisonment period is less than 10 years and his offence is not categorized as high risk
offence to himself. The offence is considered low risk offence to the offender, prison
security or the general community as provided for under regulation 5 of the Corrections
Regulations 2009
20. The main consideration of the board is the protection of community safety as the
mandatory basis required before granting of parole request. Other considerations may
include nature and circumstances of the offence, behaviour of the prisoner while in
prison, victim impact statements, psychological or psychiatric reports, and offender’s
criminal history among other considerations.
21. Reoffending is the most serious category of breaching parole. Some parole conditions are
discretionary hence breaching them may not amount to breach of parole.
Sentence and prison management

22. Objectives of sentence management unit include; reducing the risk of reoffending by
assessing offenders’ needs. The assessment helps the corrections authorities to maximize
offenders’ opportunities for change; to develop a broad sentencing plan for each prisoner;
to ensure that sentence management guiding principles are observed in all sentencing
programs among other objectives.
23.
a. The first aim of OMF is to maintain a safe secure community
Identification and monitoring of the offenders’ risks and needs
Coordinate and prioritize offenders’ access to appropriate programs services and
activities.
b. Behavioral theory
c. PP2
24. 4.10 Prisoner with substance abuse issues.
25. If proved that he has committed an offence while prison the following can be done by the
prison officer; reprimanding, withdrawal of some privileges for less than 14 days,
institute a charge for a prison offence; take necessary steps to refer the matter to criminal
law system. The offender is first granted his right to fair hearing to give explanations
before escalating the matter to higher authorities upon investigations.
26. Transition program is very important and is initiated to teach the offender being released
on how to integrate back to the community. The Correction Victoria Reintegration
Pathway also provides pre-release programs targeting the need of each prisoner as he
transitions. The pre-release program is meant to reduce risk to the community. The
program will thus target the following needs for the prisoners upon release; employment,
educational training, mental health, housing, family and community connectedness
among others.

References
Bail Act 1977
Sentencing Act 1991
Privacy Act 1988
Australian Privacy Principles Guidelines version 1.2, 2015
Corrections Act 1986
Corrections Regulations 2009
Standard Guidelines for Corrections in Australia (SGCA) Revised version 2010
Standard Guidelines for Corrections in Australia Revised edition 2012
Fact Sheet- Corrections Victoria Reintegration Pathway,
<ttps://www.corrections.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/embridge_cache/emshare/original/public/
2019/04/1f/26b94ac39/fs_cv_reintegration_pathway2.pdf> (accessed 29 May 2019)
Oxford English Living Dictionaries, Definition of
Panopticon<https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/panopticon> (accessed 29 May 2019)
Semple, Janet (1993). Bentham's Prison: a Study of the Panopticon Penitentiary. Oxford:
Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19827387-5