Welcome
to the Department for Correctional Services web site.
The Department, as part of the Justice Portfolio, has a central role
in the criminal justice process in South Australia.
This is reflected
in the Department’s purpose and aim which is
to:
“Rebuild lives affected by crime and
to be recognised as a leader in building a just and fair society where
the supervision and rehabilitation of offenders is humane and the rights
of victims are respected.”
The professional operation of prisons and
Community Corrections is aimed to achieve this vision. The Department
employs approximately 1300 staff and has responsibility for nine prisons
and sixteen Community Correctional Centres across the state.
Our philosophy and core activities are identified as follows:
“to securely and humanely manage people ordered by the courts to serve a community based or prison sanction and to provide them with opportunities to lead law-abiding and productive lives.”
Almost every person held in custody will be released back into the community and many offenders supervised in the community following a court order will hopefully never go to prison. It is a key strategy that offenders in the care of the Department are offered meaningful and targeted opportunities to address their offending behaviour to break the cycle of crime.
Crimes are committed for a range of complex issues. Research indicates that to reduce the likelihood of re-offending and maximise rehabilitation, three major factors need to be addressed – employment, family support and housing. We work closely with our partners in the Justice Portfolio and a number of other State and Federal Government agencies to address the causes of crime and to contribute to enhanced community safety.
One of our challenges is to continuously improve the integration of
our offender management processes and ensure continuity of care and
rehabilitative effort from prisons to Community Corrections supervision
and into life in the community. We are fortunate to have received significant
additional resources for a number of key initiatives, which include
specialised intervention programs for offenders and improvements in
assisting offenders and their families with housing and other essential
requirements.
The key success factor is our staff who ensure the safety and security
of facilities, supervise and manage offenders in prisons and Community
Corrections or provide corporate and support services. We strongly promote
diversity and equity in our workforce, which directly contributes to greater
effectiveness and better outcomes. The continued improvement of staff
and organisational development is critical to achieving positive results
for the community. That is our commitment. We are actively encouraging
motivated people to seek a career with the Department. This site provides
a career section with relevant links to position and application information.
We are always interested to receive feedback and suggestions and are also happy to provide additional information about our organisation to interested people. Please use the “Contact Us” section of this site. We hope you find our web-site interesting and informative.
Peter Severin
Chief Executive
