For much of her adult life, Sarah (not her real name) has been stuck in a cycle of drug abuse and incarceration.
When the 28-year-old from Melbourne was released from prison last year, she realised she had to, in her words "sort [her] life out".
She said she realised getting clean and setting herself up with job prospects was the ticket to a better future.
The Victorian government's Vocational Education and Training (VET) Centre of Excellence program, which started in January 2020, offers prisoners the chance to gain skills to prepare themselves for employment when they are released.
There are a range of courses available as part of the program, covering disciplines including welding, warehouse logistics, food handling, food packaging, information technology and printing.
Since being released from Dame Phyllis Frost Centre women's prison in Ravenhall, 20 kilometres west of Melbourne's CBD, in August, Sarah has been using civil construction skills she obtained while incarcerated to turn her life around.
"I entered the system back in 2016, due to drug charges, and possession and trafficking — everything like that," she said.
"I've been in and out of the system, a couple of months at a time, five times. The last time I went into custody was August 2021.
"I made sure that I linked in with as many services as possible and got a lot of things sorted in there since I had the time to properly get clean."
Sarah is one of 32 former inmates to have already achieved the qualifications and necessary work needed to work on job sites.
It's part of the Victorian government's bid to reduce recidivism rates by upskilling inmates while they're in jail so they're ready to be employed on release.
National incarceration rates 'steady'
According to Corrections Victoria, recidivism rates in the state decreased from 43 per cent in 2021 to 37.5 per cent last year.
The VET course program is open to inmates in the last 9 months of their sentence, or non-parole period.
But national figures show this type of restorative justice has got a long way to go to slow down incarceration rates and provide meaningful futures for Victoria’s prisoners on release.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows incarceration rates rose slightly in in Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland and the Northern Territory in the last quarter of 2022. South Australia and New South Wales were stable while Western Australia and the ACT were down by 1 per cent.
Prisoner releases are steadily growing quarter-by-quarter from 16,648 in December 2021 to 16,964 in December last year.
The ABC figures how 30 per cent of those prisoner releases (5,081) were in New South Wales, 22 per cent (3,803) in Queensland, and 17 per cent (2,821) were in Victoria. Nationally, about 18,000 people are out on parole.
Building opportunities post-jail
The Victorian government claims the rate of people returning to prison within two years of their release is below the national average.
Sarah copped a 25-month sentence in 2021 on drug charges. She's on parole until July this year and attends Narcotics Anonymous meetings on Monday nights to make sure she keeps herself disciplined.
"I come from an aged care background; I started doing aged care as a traineeship when I was 16, in high school," she said.
"But I started doing drugs pretty young. I was about 21 when I started doing the heavier sort of drugs and selling.
"This time around being aged 28 and wanting to finally sort my life out, this construction Centre of Excellence course offered me a lot of opportunities that I didn't think were possible before."
Paul Smith is the lead educator with TAFE provider Bendigo Kangan Institute at Middleton Prison which runs the Vocational Education and Training Centre for Excellence at Middleton Prison in Central Victoria.
He has spent 22 years working in the corrections system, starting at Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre before moving into the adult system.
Could ex-prisoners help solve this skills shortage?"This started with Corrections Victoria and one of the construction companies who come to us to see if we could look at getting this started," he said.
"We've got some construction companies who are happy to look at our students."
So far, 18 inmates have completed a VET course in civil construction, warehousing or food handling and packaging at Middleton Prison.
But to move inmates from a jail cell to a building site is also requiring an attitudinal shift from businesses willing to take on someone with a criminal record and convictions.
"We have a massive waiting list for the guys to try and get on to that program. Most of our students take up all the education with enthusiasm," Mr Smith said.
Pathways require a change in attitudes
Jon Testi is the employment pathways manager at Corrections Victoria and said in a tight labour market, many employers are looking for candidates that are already qualified and skilled.
"My job, and the job of my team, is to take those people and connect them directly with employers on the outside," he said.
"Within two weeks of leaving prison, roughly one in five only traditionally found work. We want to increase that rate by working on those elevated levels of employee demand."
But Mr Testi said a greater willingness from employers to give former prisoners a second chance would help the course grow.
"We have prisoners who have been training and practised welding, who don't understand the value that they have in the marketplace. We could place every single welder tomorrow, once they leave prison," he said.
Victoria's Minister for Corrections Enver Erdogan said people that entered the corrections system often had fewer skills and more complex health needs.
"There are a number of factors and obviously, employability is one of them. If we can upskill them during their time in our care, then that will give them the best chance of succeeding once they're released into the community," he said.
Hundreds of inmates to participate
In the 2022-23 budget, the Victorian government announced $37 million to fund the centres for excellence in the state's prison network and Mr Erdogan said he hoped it would help more prisoners turn their lives around.
"I hope we have hundreds of inmates participating in the program," he said.
Sarah said striving to be a better person, daughter and older sister is what had driven her to turn her life around by quitting drugs and picking up the tools.
"I'm 17 months clean," she said.
"So life is absolutely amazing.
"I went to the beach on Saturday. For the last couple of years, I never went to the beach because I was too busy in my own bubble through my own stupid stuff."
