Vocational Support Officer Colin at Bunbury Regional Prison crafted bespoke furniture for a Margaret River gallery for 23 years before joining the prison two years ago 鈥 and he hasn鈥檛 looked back.
鈥淚n the prison cabinet and woodwork shop I work with a team of prisoners who manufacture furniture for the prison system, other government agencies and not-for-profit organisations,鈥 Colin said. 鈥淢y role is to teach employability skills, how to work as a team, and the skills associated with the woodworking/cabinet-making manufacturing industry,鈥 Colin said.
鈥淚n prison workshops, prisoners gain trade qualifications and certificated training within their area of interest. Many of the prisoners are already skilled tradesmen but despite this they are still prepared to learn 鈥 and I often learn from them, too.
鈥淭he prisoners take pride in their work and it increases their confidence and motivation to learn more. Some of them request to make personal items, like jewellery boxes and picture frames to give to family members.
鈥淚 have to supervise all their activities while they are in the workshop. But when appropriate I do allow them to learn by their mistakes 鈥 which is a bit like life.
鈥淚t鈥檚 rewarding work and I鈥檇 recommend anyone to consider applying to become a VSO. You鈥檙e a role model, you鈥檙e a teacher and at times you鈥檙e also a mentor and a support for the prisoners. They look up to you and gain satisfaction from learning and a good day鈥檚 work.鈥
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the suspension of the Section 95 work that approved prisoners close to release do in the community, Colin was one of a team of VSOs who supervised prisoners working on projects such as the refurbishment of the historic Nannup cemetery.
鈥淲e removed all the rotten fence posts along a 1km stretch and replaced them, repainted metal gates, repaired all the old metal bars on the graves and raked and cleaned the area,鈥 he said.
鈥淲e also do maintenance work on all the police stations in the South West and have been working on some of the walking and mountain bike trails in the region. We are currently working on Nannup鈥檚 bike trail, which is going to be one of the best in the world. For this we鈥檙e building the metal frames in the prison for some of the trail鈥檚 board walks.
鈥淭he prisoners love to stand back and admire their work 鈥 and it gets a lot of admiration from the community too. People are very surprised and grateful for the contribution we make to the community and they often come out and thank the prisoners.
鈥淲ithout the work of the s 95 prisoners, many of the small communities and their projects wouldn鈥檛 get done.鈥
While they wait for the s 95 program to get back up and running, Colin and his team of prisoners have been painting and carrying out maintenance work on the prison鈥檚 12 pre-release unit houses. This is where prisoners learn to do their own cooking and budget to buy their own provisions in preparation for their eventual release.
Their next job is to put new skirting boards in all the houses.
鈥淪ome of them would become disillusioned and very bored if they didn鈥檛 have this work to keep them occupied,鈥 Colin said.
