Passing-out ceremony for 10 new prison officers

30 March 2023

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This week, 10 new prison officers are beginning their careers with the States of Jersey Prison Service (SoJPS). 

They graduated, at a passing-out ceremony, in front of their family, friends, the Prison Governor, the Justice and Home Affairs Chief Officer and VIP was the national prison officer ambassador for England and Wales, Custodial Manager Tim Gurrey. 

The recent refurbishment at the prison meant the ceremony could be held on site at the prison for the first time in living memory, enabling prison colleagues to be part of the celebration. 

The officers were selected during a recruitment campaign earlier this year. The process involved a series of physical trials and psychometric tests and other assessments.

All 10 officers have successfully undergone an intense 10-week training programme lead by Training Manager Paul Murray. The course is pass or fail and includes a range of skills including classroom-based learning, physical fitness, first aid as well as listening and coping skills, how to deal with and understanding prisoners, physical restraint techniques and helping inmates integrate back into the community with all 10 officers passing.

The new prison officers are: Bernadett Gaspar, Oliver McQuillan, Marcio Rodrigues, Ciara O’Rafferty, Jose Sousa, Dariusz Maksymowicz, William Henriques, John Davis, Fabio Fernandes and Mateusz Maciejewski. 

Prison Governor Susie Richardson said: “I would like to congratulate all the new prison officers on the successful completion of their training and warmly welcome them into the (SoJPS) team. It is always a proud moment when we bring new officers into the service.

“We are looking forward to the next intake, with the initial application stage starting in April. Anyone interested in joining us should look out for recruitment details on the Justice and Home Affairs careers webpages. Being a prison officer is a challenging and rewarding career and being part of the rehabilitative opportunity at Le Moye to ‘Release better Neighbours’, we recruit from all areas of the community.”