I’ve been specifically interested in these changes since a friend of mine called me one weekend a few months back. Katie, her daughter, was wanting to apply to be a Corrections officer – and she wondered if I’d look at her application letter.
In the end, I followed Katie’s application journey throughout. It was the most rigorous process I’d ever encountered, and there’s good reason for this. Corrections is looking to change its culture, outlined in the ambitious strategic plan Hōkai Rangi. For this to be realised, it needs smart and motivated professionals.
After getting the nod with her CV and cover letter, Katie had to undergo psychometric testing as well as answer a number of questions via a video recording. Again, she got the nod.
Great, I said when I found out. When do you start the job? She laughed, the process has only just begun, she told me.
Next up was a day-long trip to an assessment centre, with other applicants in the area (maybe 30 or 40 people). Here, Katie undertook role-playing assessments, group work to access teamwork, a written assessment, and a one-on-one interview.
At this point, the would-be recruits got one of three replies. “Yes”, “Yes but not right now”, and “No”. Katie was a “Yes”, so she had to provide references and undergo police vetting.
With those in the bag, she was then invited to a “scope day”. The first part of the process, and her first time ever, in a prison.
“What was it like,” I asked?
“Nothing like the movies or TV. Have you seen Wentworth? Nothing like that. It was more ordered and more in control. I was told to ‘wear professional corporate attire’ and I had these nice shoes on with a little block heel. All I heard all day was comments about those damn shoes. It actually helped break the ice, but if I had my time again, I’d be in sneakers.”
When she got home that night she was buzzing; this is something I can do, she thought to herself. Realistically, I can’t change the world, but I can make small changes that make a difference.
The scope day in prison is designed to see how new recruits interact with the people in Corrections’ care, but it also gives the recruit a chance to see if it suits them, too. Still, the process wasn’t over. Katie had to get a medical and exercise risk assessment from a GP, and then had to undertake a fitness test.
Dragging a dummy, emergency response drill and the other activities done back-to-back didn’t worry Katie, she’s fit – but she’s also small. A test of grip strength on a horizontal pull is a worry. You’re allowed one chance on the equipment before you take the test. Katie failed the grip test in practice, but cracked it during the test itself; adrenaline is good like that.
By now everybody in my office was invested in Katie’s path into Corrections. Whenever she came into the office to say hi, we’d ask her questions. I felt exhausted for her. You must be close to the end now, I’d say at every stage of the process.
And now she was. A clean drug test and she received the letter. She had been accepted.
After such a multifaceted process, she said it felt like a real achievement. In fact, each pass along the way felt like mini victories. The rigour of the process is by design.
Jim Watson, the director of Custodial Capability Pathways, told me that the modern Corrections Officer requires a greater skillset than it perhaps once did, great communication skills are key to success and more important than ever in today’s prison environment. Getting better results from imprisonment, and therefore reducing the victims of crime, will require changes and certainly a change in mindset, but not losing the core skills needed of a Corrections officer. That’s what he wants in new recruits.
Furthering that goal, the process for Katie was far from over. After being accepted, training involves five weeks at “college” – the National Training Centre in Upper Hutt, and the same amount of time training on site at the prison she’s assigned to.
Katie graduated two weeks ago, but has another six to 12 months of ongoing training on the job.
Is she enjoying it? “I’m loving it,” she told me. “Absolutely loving it. I’m excited to go to work every day.” It was in the same enthusiastic tone I heard at the gatehouse at Christchurch Women’s recently. Perhaps the enthusiasm is catching.
- Dr Jarrod Gilbert is the director of Independent Research Solutions and a sociologist at the University of Canterbury.
