Corrective Services is calling for experienced tradespeople to sign up as Vocational Support Officers to teach prisoners life-changing skills.
The 125 positions on offer cover 50 different occupations including baking, cooking, metal fabricating, painting and gardening.
Minister for Corrective Services, Francis Logan said Vocational Support Officers, or VSOs, played important roles in a prisoner’s rehabilitation program.
“They help prisoners upskill and focus on self-improvement so that when they leave prison they are much better placed to find employment or continue with their training,” Mr Logan said.
He said the roles, at 14 prisons throughout the State, also included prisoner reception officer and canteen supervisor.
VSO positions are currently available at the Albany, Bandyup, Broome, Bunbury, Casuarina, Eastern Goldfields, Greenough, Hakea, Melaleuca, Roebourne, Wandoo and West Kimberley prisons, and the Wooroloo and Karnet prison farms.
“As a former tradesperson myself, I know how valuable hands-on skills can be and how rewarding the work is,” Mr Logan said.
“When I visit our jails across the State, I always know that I will end up speaking to a Vocational Support Officer who will proudly tell me about the prisoners under their care who have gone on to find work on their release.”
He said the Government was about job creation — “and by putting more qualified and committed tradespeople in our jails, we increase the chances that prisoners will find work or further training on release”.
“In turn that benefits the individual and their families, but also the community as we steer people away from reoffending and towards being productive members of society,” the Minister said.
