Prison officer, Victoria

Prison officers tell Anna Kurnuszko that despite TV and movie images, their work can be quite rewarding
WORKING as a prison officer is not generally at the top of many people’s career choices.

The image most of us have is the one portrayed by TV and Hollywood. The stereotype is either a bumbling fool or a sadist. The reality is very different. Officers working in the corrections system are ordinary people who find their work very rewarding. Prison supervisor Roslyn Smith will be working at the soon-to-open

Metropolitan Remand Centre at Ravenhall, near Deer Park. She has worked in corrections for 10 years, starting out, as she describes herself, as a naive fitness instructor at the women’s prison.

She says she had no preconceived ideas about corrections. “I was able to watch prisoner and staff interactions and was pleasantly surprised that they were all normal.

“I found I could communicate easily with prisoners and that they were like anyone else.

“Once the initial anxiety went away-it is all about the unknown-you found things were not as bad as you had heard.”

Smith has since moved up the ladder to become a supervisor at Ravenhall. Her colleague, senior prison officer Rod Swain, started his working career as a carpenter and joiner.

After his trade apprenticeship, he became a building supervisor before moving on to security, where he worked in loss-prevention with a large department store.

When private enterprise took over the Melbourne Custody Centre, he applied to become a security officer, but the firm suggested he might like to become a custodial officer.

He agreed and has subsequently worked at the custody centre, the women’s prison and will now work at the new remand centre.

Smith says the corrections system has officers from their early 20s to late 50s-including mothers, men who were looking for a career change, police officers who transferred over, and former Ansett staff.

What is clear is that there is no particular type of person who can be described as a prison officer. Regardless of the skills they bring from their former job, prison officers must be good communicators, work easily with people, have strong common sense and life skills.

Once accepted as a recruit prison officer, there is an eight-week training course followed by on-going training. Swain says prison used to be a 100 per cent security focus-turn the key, throw it away. But it is now changing.

“We still have the security side of it, but the work is now more focused on rehabilitation.”

AT the Melbourne Remand Centre the focus of the officers is different. The prisoners have not been convicted of anything, so the focus is on putting them in the best possible light and to prepare them for court or bail applications, Smith says.

“There are a lot of resources here for them and opportunities to obtain life skills, and to enhance employment opportunities.”
For more information, visit www.cvcareers.com.au or ph: 1800 181 091 to register for an information evening.

JOB LOT
To become a prison officer you need to:
BE AN Australian citizen or be a permanent resident, or a New Zealand citizen with permanent working rights for Australia
UNDERGO a medical assessment
HAVE an Offence History Check with Victoria Police and VicRoads
UNDERTAKE a series of selection tests that include interviews, group exercises, psychological testing and reference checks
BE ABLE to do shift work
RECRUITS are paid at the Custodial Officer Group (COG) Level 1 trainee rate of $35,681.
The prison officer salary range (COG 2A) is $36,832 to $47,299. There are also shift penalties.
PRISON officers usually work 80 hours a fortnight. Shifts vary within any two-week period.