If you have good communication skills and enjoy interacting with people, then being a correctional officer might be your calling.
That’s the hope of Corrections BC which hosted information sessions in Oliver and Osoyoos last week.
About 45 people attended the Oliver Community Centre on October 8 to determine if a career in corrections was the right fit for them. Approximately the same number attended the Osoyoos session.
The media was not permitted to attend the Oliver meeting for reasons that were not made clear by corrections staff.
But Tedd Howard, provincial director of capital projects, said they are very pleased with the response so far.
Howard noted they saw a “good mix of folks” turn up for the meeting, which outlined the culture of corrections and the safety and security of officers inside the facilities.
“Our goal is to make good connections with the right people,” Howard said. “The bottom line is to help them decide if this is the job for them.”
He pointed out that the job of a corrections officer is primarily communicating with inmates. “People who enjoy interacting with people generally will like the job.”
Howard said 35-40 per cent of correctional officers in BC are female, noting that a lot of women enjoy this type of work.
Prerequisites include a Grade 12 education, Class 5 driver’s licence, a proficiency in English and being physically fit.
Howard said candidates are put through a physical ability test so they can demonstrate they won’t be “huffing and puffing” when responding to an emergency.
Howard stated that 60 per cent of correctional staff at the new prison will be transferred from other facilities, while 40 per cent will be new hires.
For more information, visit www.pssg.gov.bc.ca/corrections/
Lyonel Doherty
Oliver Chronicle
This is a conceptual drawing of the new correctional centre project in Oliver. The Ministry of Justice has just appointed a warden for the facility.
