While people may be familiar with the fictional officers from Wentworth or Orange Is The New Black, Corrective Services NSW is celebrating the real faces of prison life and thanking its more than 7000 frontline staff.
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Friday, January 20 marks the inaugural Corrections Day, which will take the community beyond the prison walls to hear the stories of the men and women of the NSW correctional system who rehabilitate inmates, keep offenders accountable and aim to reduce reoffending.
A current program at Oberon Correctional Centre where inmates care for chickens and turkeys was one of the first career highlights for Paul Kilburn as it proved that work opportunities were important to rehabilitate inmates at the centre.
The senior trade overseer, who has been at Oberon Correctional Centre for 17 years, remembers the positive impact that work had on one troubled offender who had been in the system for some time.
“He had been in prison for serious offences but working with the chickens and turkeys – collecting their eggs and raising them – was a great opportunity for him to improve his attitude and calm him down,” Mr Kilburn said.
“We would enter those birds into shows on behalf of the inmates and when they won medals and ribbons, it showed them you can get another chance at life.”
For the past 17 years, Mr Kilburn has been supervising inmates in various work-related activities to help them gain skills, experience and qualifications that assist with their ability to reintegrate back into the community.
“I think a lot of members of the public don’t realise how much goes on within the prison system, which actually enhances the lives of the inmates,” Mr Kilburn said.
“People think that we just lock them up, but there are a range of programs and work opportunities.”
Mr Kilburn says it’s very important that inmates are given an opportunity to learn valuable skills that can help them once they’re released into the community.
“Some inmates have never worked before their time in prison. They don’t know how to pick up a hammer,” he said.
“But once they leave prison, they’ve already received training and possibly a TAFE certificate or construction ticket.
“We equip them to get back out there in the hope of slowly reintegrating them into society."
