Imagine you’re a new Corrections officer, escorting four minimum security prisoners to their jobs in the prison kitchen. Suddenly you notice two of them pass a small package between them. What do you do? Confront them straight away and try to retrieve the package? Escort them back to their cells? Proceed to the kitchen while calling for assistance?
A new, more practical, component in the Introductory Training Course (ITC) for new Corrections officers means scenarios like this one are now acted out by recruits eager to become fully fledged Corrections officers.
Prison Service Training and Development Manager Michael Maryan says this kind of role-playing reflects best practice and involves staff more deeply in the realities of the Corrections officer’s role.
“Being a Corrections officer is not an easy job, so our aim is to set them up for the role with consistent training of a high standard,” says Michael.
The new course also boasts standardised tutor’s guides and workbooks, and gives recruits more opportunity to use radios, respond to incidents and practice safety and security procedures.
No nail-biting wait for test results is another improvement to the course. Recruits now take their final written test electronically and get their results immediately instead of having to wait for their paper to be marked manually.
The course was redeveloped, in consultation with College staff, by Michael Howley and Tane Landon-Lane from Public Prisons Service Training and Development.
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ISSN 1178-8453