Hopkins Correctional Centre

Video: View of Hopkins Correctional Centre including sports grounds, buildings, common area of prison accommodation.

Scott: General Manager, Hopkins Corrections Centre:

“Hopkins Correctional Centre is a medium secure prison. We look after up to 798 prisoners. We have a whole age rand and cultural range here.”

“We look at their offending behaviour. We look at what they need to understand why they’re in the position they’re in and trying to educate them, give them the skills to turn into a person that can on release be law-abiding and be a good member of the community.”

Joyleen, Acting Senior Prison Officer, Hopkins Corrections Centre:

“What makes me feel safe is the quality of people that actually I work with. Of course, we’ve got our general tools: the doors, the locks, the windows, the radios, duresses, but your team members - you’re aligned heavily and they’re trained to a very good standard.”

Video: Five prison officers standing outside having a conversation.

Danielle, Workforce Development Supervisor, Grampians Region:

“So, during the eight weeks of training, you start off with the basics around legislation and understanding the prison environment, and then you’d move on to the security side of things. It is all about communication – so communication skills, how to understand and work with the prisoners.”

Joyleen, Acting Senior Prison Officer, Hopkins Corrections Centre:

“I enjoy case work. I enjoy the thought of changing someone’s attitude and their behaviours when they’re going back into the community.”

Video: Prison officer seated at a table talking with a prisoner as part of case management.

Scott: General Manager, Hopkins Corrections Centre:

“Underpinning all of that is having the ability to talk to people, engage with them, break down barriers and develop them as individuals.”

Joyleen, Acting Senior Prison Officer, Hopkins Corrections Centre:

“You get many varied tasks. You also need to be prepared that you can work various shifts during the day.”

Video: Two prison officers conducting a search of a prison cell.

Craig, Prison Officer, Hopkins Correctional Centre:

“Different areas do different amounts of searches and just go through the cells, do audits of the cell property, make sure they’ve only got things they’ve been approved for.”

Danielle, Workforce Development Supervisor, Grampians Region:

“As a prison officer, there’s so many different areas that you can get into. If you look further afield at Department of Justice and Community Safety, there’s sheriffs, there’s CCS (Community Corrections Services), Consumer Affairs, Youth Justice. There’s just so many avenues.”

Craig, Prison Officer, Hopkins Correctional Centre:

“Ararat is s good town. It provides everything. It’s out in the country, community’s fantastic. The schools are really good, community clubs, all the shopping needs and everything like that, yeah.”

Video: Aerial shot of Ararat, followed by shots of the townhall, streets, schools

Joyleen, Acting Senior Prison Officer, Hopkins Corrections Centre:

“I love my job. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

Craig, Prison Officer, Hopkins Correctional Centre:

“The work culture within Hopkins has always been one that’s been supportive to staff.”

Video: Prison officers walking through grounds of Hopkins Correctional Centre having conversations.

Scott: General Manager, Hopkins Corrections Centre:

“The people we need to attract to work in an environment like Hopkins - it’s about dealing with human beings, looking after them, understanding their issues, developing them, getting to know the person and doing some quality case management to help them move on and develop a an individual.”

Text on screen: Put your skills to work with a career in Corrections – justice.vic.gov.au/careers