Dale Toskovski had a broad grin after being sworn in as a prison officer at a graduation ceremony at the Metropolitan Remand Centre last week.
“There are so many different avenues within a prison; there’s security, event management, the dog squad,” he says.
The Altona Meadows resident says his new profession is ideal as it will allow him to pursue two areas that interest him: law enforcement and animals.
Mr Toskovski bathed dogs to pay the bills while he studied for an advanced diploma of justice at RMIT University.
A former lecturer and Pentridge prison warden inspired Mr Toskovski, 23, to join the police force, but a recent Corrections Victoria radio advertisement motivated him to consider working in one of Victoria’s prisons.
He was one of 30 new prison recruits to be sworn in at the remand centre in Ravenhall last Tuesday and one of 300 recruits who have graduated across Victoria’s prison system this year.
The Ravenhall centre is undergoing a 200-bed expansion, with the first 100 beds to open in the next few months.
Corrections Victoria is also expanding its workforce and began a recruitment drive on June 29.
The Metropolitan Remand Centre’s general manager, Len Norman, said Corrections Victoria was recruiting to fill 750 new prison and community corrections officer roles over the next 12 months.
“There has been very strong interest from potential recruits across the state, including a record number of attendees (260) at a recent corrections careers information session in the Geelong area,” Mr Norman said.
He said almost 1500 new prison beds had opened across Victoria since the start of 2011, with more than 2600 still to open, including a new medium-security prison at Ravenhall in Melbourne’s west.
New prison officer Leonie Uit den Bogaard, also 23, said she’s looking forward to a career she can be proud of.
Asked whether she’s concerned about being a female in a male-dominated profession, she indicates quickly that she isn’t. “It’s not as intimidating as you think.”
