Ninti has delivered multiple programs on behalf of Commonwealth government agencies in the justice sector.
Justice reinvestment partner
As part of the Commonwealth government’s $81.5 million justice reinvestment program across Australia, Ninti and our partner organisations, Justice Reinvestment Network Australia and Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, have been contracted by the Attorney-General’s Department as the justice reinvestment partner. Justice reinvestment allows communities to identify the best way to prevent and reduce contact with the criminal justice system in their regions. It works by bringing together local First Nations people to design and develop unique, holistic justice responses using shared data, evidence, lived experiences and local expertise. Justice reinvestment initiatives will commonly adopt a life course approach to crime by focusing on early intervention and prevention in intersecting areas of justice.
As a justice reinvestment partner, Ninti will be supporting interested communities to prepare for the establishment of the National Justice Reinvestment Program by providing capability building and readiness support.
Lemongrass Place Pilot Program evaluation
Since 2015, a number of scoping studies have been undertaken to develop a Community Transition and Learning Centre (CTLC). In 2021, with funding from the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) provided to the South Australian (SA) Government’s Department of Correctional Services, a CTLC was established in Port Augusta. This became the Lemongrass Place Pilot Program (LPPP).
The LPPP aligns with Priority Reforms and the National Agreement on Closing the Gap; it grew out of the SA Government’s commitment to reducing Aboriginal overrepresentation in corrective services. The LPPP is a 20-bed residential facility intended to provide male Aboriginal prisoners with intensive support when they are released on home detention orders to help them transition back into the community and find work.
DCS emphasised engaging with Aboriginal communities to lead the development and implementation the LPPP. Kokatha Aboriginal Corporation (KAC) was contracted by DCS in 2021 to deliver the 18-month pilot. In early 2023 the LPPP was extended to June 2024, with service delivery transferred in June 2023 to a new provider, the Aboriginal Drug & Alcohol Council (SA) Aboriginal Corporation (ADAC).
In keeping with this emphasis, this evaluation is being led by Ninti One Limited. The evaluation has been running concurrently with the implementation of the LPPP at Port Augusta and has provided an opportunity to refine and improve the model and processes for the LPPP to achieve stronger outcomes. The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the extent to which the program is achieving its goals as intended.
An Interim Report was delivered in 2022. A final evaluation report with recommendations will be delivered in November 2023,
CRC-REP research
From 2010-2016, Ninti managed a four-year ‘Employment Pathways’ corrections research project under the CRC-REP. This focussed on prison learning experiences and employment aspirations of low security Aboriginal males incarcerated at Berrimah Correctional Centre (Darwin) and who, on release, planned to return to the Katherine Region, including Roper Gulf Shire (NT). The research findings associated with the Berrimah prison case study were used in strategic planning and intervention by the NT Department of Correctional Services.