Reintegration Pathways Program
The Reintegration Pathways Program was developed by ACSO in April 2024 to provide bespoke and desperately needed services for individuals recently released from immigration detention.
Indefinite detention ruled unlawful
In November 2023, the High Court of Australia unanimously agreed that it is unlawful to hold people in immigration detention when there is “no real prospect of removal from Australia becoming practicable in the reasonably foreseeable future”. This decision was the outcome of the case NZYQ v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, which highlighted the predicament of people seeking refuge in Australia without a visa or citizenship of any other country.
“For decades, Australia’s system of mandatory and indefinite immigration detention has imposed an enormous burden on thousands of vulnerable people and their families.”
– Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM, President of the Australian Human Rights Commission
Since the early 1990s, Australian law has required individuals without a valid visa to be held in immigration detention, either whilst waiting for an outcome of their visa application, or to be deported. The NZYQ case challenged this law in the context of individuals who met neither of these criteria, unable to obtain a visa due to having previous involvement with the criminal justice system, or be deported to any other country. Essentially, this left a cohort of people facing indefinite detainment.
Release of the NZYQ cohort
Ruling indefinite immigration detention as unlawful required the release of this group, known as cohort NZYQ, into the community. The NZYQ cohort face distinct and elevated risks, as they are ineligible for many existing support services. Many individuals within this cohort have experienced deep and complex trauma, having fled from their countries due to war, violence, or persecution, spending time in prison, and being held in immigration detention for years without an end in sight.
“Whatever the reason that a person cannot be removed from Australia, indefinite immigration detention can never be the answer. People in detention are deprived of their freedom, separated from their families and communities, and routinely subjected to violence, isolation and deplorable conditions. On top of this, people are faced with the psychological burden of not knowing when, or even if, they will ever get out… The Australian Government should support people to rebuild their lives in freedom and safety.”
– Sanmati Verma, Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre
Addressing urgent needs
Identifying the urgent support cohort NZYQ required, and the risks to individual and community safety posed by the gap in existing services for them, Home Affairs approached ACSO to design and implement a bespoke national program specifically targeting the needs of this cohort.
ACSO have a long history of providing community services to individuals who have had contact with the justice system. Since 2012, we have leveraged our forensic expertise to develop fourteen new programs, utilising a nuanced understanding of trauma to break the cycle of individuals entering the prison system. The Reintegration Pathways Program (RPP) builds upon these foundations as ACSO’s first program to span across Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, and the only program in Australia especially designed to deliver offence-specific therapeutic supports to the NZYQ cohort.
Collaborate to rehabilitate
Working alongside referral partners Life Without Barriers and Settlement Services International, RPP engages with participants on a voluntary basis to complete forensic needs assessments. These assessments explore the distinct challenges faced by each participant and allow the team of clinicians and practitioners to develop treatment recommendations. The RPP team then works with participants to co-develop an intervention plan, which sets out strategies to reduce behaviours of concern and promote safe engagement with the program and associated services.
While the program is still in its early stages, RPP has clear metrics for success and a team dedicated to achieving positive outcomes. The goal is for participants of the program to attain stabilised or improved physical and mental health and demonstrate an increased capacity to manage behaviours of concern, thereby reducing further contact with the criminal justice system. Ultimately, by supporting cohort NZYQ to heal from complex trauma and make meaningful change, RPP endeavours to enable individuals to live fulfilling, offence-free lives harmoniously with their communities.