The Commissioner of Corrective Services NSW, Peter Severin (pictured) has reflected on his 40 year career in corrective services, a period which has seen dramatic changes in prison technology as well as the types of offenders and the crimes they commit.
Mr Severin began his career as a prison officer in Germany on 1 October 1980 and was Chief Executive of the Department for Correctional Services in South Australia for nine years, and worked with Queensland Corrective Services for 15 years.
“I was very fortunate in my career, even though I have always worked in the same industry I have worked in many different areas of prison and parole and this is the fascination about corrections,” Mr Severin said.
“Everybody employed in corrections is there for the same purpose and that is to ensure community safety and security and a humane system where people can be rehabilitated,” he said.
“I have always been fascinated by this industry, and I always had a passion to be part of a team that makes a difference and that is the same today as it was 40 years ago.”
Mr Severin said the most dramatic change in corrections since 1980 was the use of technology, which changed the role of prison officers.
“When I started everything was done by walking around and watching things,” he said.
“These days we’re walking around but in doing so we can positively engage with the inmates, because now the watching is done by CCTV cameras, alarmed fences and electronic locks.”
He said the types of offenders had also changed, with NSW now home to Australia’s largest prison for terror and extremist inmates, a cohort that did not exist 40 years ago.
