Over the last month, we have welcomed Dave Corrigan, a prison officer from HM Prison Gartree in Gartree, Leicestershire, who has visited the college a few times to speak to both our FE and HE Public Services students about custodial care, which they are currently studying while offering career advice and information about life in the prison service.
Dave will return to Loughborough College next year as part of a working relationship linked to exchanging information about prisons and possibly recruiting students into the prison apprenticeship scheme. A few students have already successfully applied for a career in the prison service. Dave has helped and is continuing to guide applicants through the process.
Dave Corrigan commented, “It was a pleasure to visit Loughborough College and speak to several Higher and Further Education students. The work carried out by Prison Officers is largely misunderstood or unknown, so it was a fantastic opportunity to talk about the service and the potential for careers to motivated and enthusiastic young people. I was pleasantly surprised during the Q&A the majority of the questions were thoughtful and relevant, and my hope is that, even if it’s just one student, this has raised awareness of the work that we do and ignited an interest in a future career. Thank you for the opportunity, and I hope you can visit us soon.”
Due to Dave's visit, many of our students have decided to apply for prison-based roles.
Student Abi Mortiboys commented ‘’The presentation gave me a detailed insight into the roles and responsibilities of a prison officer. I have applied to become an officer at Gartree prison.”
Another student Abbie Baker-Hastings" I will be applying to become a prison officer at Gartree as I believe I will have more time to help with rehabilitation as they have more long-term offenders."
We will conduct a series of visits with HE and FE Public Services students to Gartree Prison.