By C1 Staff
CANBERRA, Australia — For correctional services officer Jenny West, she only wishes that people could shake the bad rap that the media has given correctional officers.
“I really want the public to know there is a team of people out there working with these people to make sure when they do go back to the community, the community is safe,” West told the Canberra Times.
Having worked in corrections for 13 years, the last four in management, West is all too familiar with the complexities of overseeing inmates.
“Every time somebody comes in, somebody new – at the moment it’s three to four people a day coming into custody – we’re looking at ‘are you going to hurt somebody, are you going to hurt yourself, where are we going to place you to make sure you don’t,’” she said.
But she says she doesn’t think prison is something to be afraid of, at least not for employees.
“To me a prison is a place where people go obviously because they’ve been sentenced, but it’s a place of learning, it’s a place to get healthy, it’s a place to improve your employment skills, a place to think of your life and the road you’re traveling on.”
More than a decade ago, West switched career paths from nursing to correctional services. The days vary, and sometimes the best that can be achieved is a day when no one gets hurt.
But the best day for west is when she knows she’s helped turn an individual’s life around and has broken a generational cycle of crime.
“The highlight for me is seeing somebody who has completed their sentence [and] all programs they need to complete to address their offending behavior and I can see a massive attitude change from when they first came into custody to when they’re leaving,” she said. “It’s a success story if they don’t come back.”