Additional checks for the Correctional Officer pre-employment program

A range of employment screening checks are undertaken for everyone who applies for a role with the DCJ, such as criminal records checks, or Working with Children Checks.

Correctional officer roles have an additional requirement to list any offenders they may have been in contact with while they were in custody.

Due to the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system, many people worry that they will not be able to apply for this program, or for these roles, if they have this contact.

Having a prior criminal history or knowing someone in custody will not stop you from being considered for this program – it all depends on what your history is.  Honesty is a must, and we look at every application on a case by case basis.

Here’s some things to know:

Association disclosure

As part of your application, you must report all contact with known offenders, which includes personal or family relationships, as far back as you can remember. We understand how kinship and community work, and we’ll work through any potential issues with you. Many people worry about this.

There is no ban on applicants having contact with offenders, including interstate offenders whom you may be related to, or otherwise involved with. 

There is nothing wrong with having contact with people who are offenders, including personal or Aboriginal kinship relationships. The information you provide is private and will not be used against you or the people you mention.

It is common for individuals to know multiple offenders. Declaring contact with multiple offenders will not disadvantage your application

We use this information to avoid placing employees in the same facility as known contacts or family (kin), for the safety and good of all.

If you decide to take up a place in the program or a role as a Corrective Services Officer, it’s important to know that improper relationships of any kind will not be tolerated, and disciplinary action may be taken against anyone who provides false and/or misleading information or who fails to disclose relevant information. 

Frequently asked questions

Does my involvement in any of these things mean I can’t apply?

No. The best thing to do if you are worried about any aspect of the pre-program and pre-employment checks is to get in touch with the Aboriginal Employment Strategy team at AES@justice.nsw.gov.au, and one of the team will call you to have a confidential yarn.

We assess every application on a case-by-case basis. We know our people are over-represented in the justice system, just as we know that we can create much better outcomes when Aboriginal people are employed within that system

Who is an offender?

An offender is anyone who is:

• currently serving a sentence of imprisonment, periodic detention or who is under the supervision of Community Offender Services for any offence
• anyone who has ever served a custodial sentence of more than six months
• anyone who has ever been convicted of a sexual offence
• any other person who in the past ten years has served any sentence of imprisonment or periodic detention or has been under the supervision of Community Offender Services for any offence in any State / Territory in Australia.

What is ‘contact with an offender’?

Contact with an offender is defined as doing any of the following in the past 10 years:

• Visiting someone in a correctional facility/complex, either personally or professionally
• Communicating with someone you know is an offender, either when they were in prison or no longer in prison. This can include speaking with them on the phone, sending e-mails or letters, through social media or spending time together in person, even if only occasionally.
• Being a member, student, or employee of the same club, team, organisation, school, or workplace as someone you know is an offender
• Visiting a member in your Aboriginal kinship and family structure, husbands, wives, partners, mothers, fathers, uncles, aunties, sisters, brothers, cousins, daughters, sons and so on
• Interacting with someone you know is an offender for any other reason. 

Criminal records check – and the information you need to provide

If you have committed a crime, either recently or years ago, you may be worried about undergoing a criminal records check. While all criminal checks will show unspent convictions, only standard and enhanced level checks will show any convictions that are spent. We need to know about both.

In addition, some crimes will be filtered out if they are ‘protected’ .

What do spent and unspent convictions mean?

Some crimes will stay on your criminal record indefinitely, such as violent or serious sexual crimes that impact safeguarding, or if an offence resulted in a prison sentence.

Other crimes will eventually be removed from your record.

Spent convictions are crimes that have reached this point and have been removed, so they will not show up on a background check.

Unspent convictions have not yet reached this point and will still show up on a background check.

Standard and enhanced level checks may still surface a spent conviction, but it is easier to obtain work if your convictions or cautions are considered spent.