Corrections Victoria has taken its Vocational Education and Training (VET) program into State prisons in a step towards helping to break the cycle of reoffending.
Welcoming the initiative, the Minister for Corrections, Enver Erdogan said Corrections’ VET Centre of Excellence program provided prisoners with the opportunity to obtain civil construction licences and tickets.
“Former prisoners have turned their lives around by using the program to find employment and pre-apprenticeship pathways and land a job in the construction sector, as well as warehousing and traffic control,” Mr Erdogan said.
“The program is delivered by Corrections Victoria in conjunction with Bendigo Kangan Institute and major employers in the civil construction industry,” he said.
“It provides prisoners intensive training over 12 to 15 weeks and focuses on practical skills such as operating forklifts, skid steers, excavators and elevating work platforms.”
Mr Erdogan said that program participants were also given the opportunity to meet with civil construction employers to discuss potential employment opportunities as part of their transition to work in the community upon release.
He said there were five VET Centres of Excellence in Civil Construction and one VET Centre of Excellence in Welding across the State’s prisons.
The Minister said almost $7 million had been allocated over the next four years for programs aimed at supporting people in prison to get back to work.
“This funding will see the establishment of Employment Hubs and Employment Specialists in Prisons – connecting people to employment support and job opportunities prior to release,” Mr Erdogan said.
