Our Government continues to recruit more Correctional Officers into the Tasmania Prison Service (TPS), as part of our ongoing commitment to ensure the safety of staff, inmates and the community.
Another significant step in this commitment has been reached, with a new recruit course currently underway and 19 new recruits completing their training this week, with a graduation ceremony held today which I attended.
These latest recruits are recognition that the intensive recruitment campaign the Government, through the TPS, has undertaken this year is paying dividends - providing a safer and more secure environment for inmates and staff, while also improving rehabilitation outcomes for offenders.
The 14 new recruits – nine female, five male – come from a wide range of backgrounds and industries, and will undertake an intensive 10 week training program that combines classroom learning with on the job placements.
This is the first time the TPS recruitment has had more than 50 percent female recruits, at over 60 percent.
The TPS continues to focus heavily on recruitment, having undertaken a major advertising campaign in recent months, and also attending AGFEST last month to engage directly with the community.
Pleasingly, a selection process is already underway to identify the next batch of diverse recruits who will begin their training in November, as the fourth recruit school to commence in 2022 – which is the most ever held in one year and a record for the TPS.
Applications remain open for future recruit schools, which will begin in 2023, and I encourage anyone considering a career in corrections to visit the dedicated TPS recruitment website (https://correctionscareers.tas.gov.au/) to learn more.
Congratulations to both the incoming recruits and those who graduated today. I wish them well as they embark on what is a challenging but rewarding career with the TPS knowing that they can enhance rehabilitation by ensuring offenders have the best chance of returning to a successful life in the community, free from offending behaviour.
