Innovative jail-based programs prepare employment-ready candidates to fill critical industry workforce needs by tackling stubborn prisoner reoffending challenges. By John Feary.
Two separate events at Karnet Prison Farm underline the significant progress being made to overcome the employment disadvantages facing ex-prisoners in WA, while at the same time helping employers in civil construction and other industries find keen and job-ready recruits.
Indigenous-owned and managed company Carey Training & Development will complete the 18th program of its Carey Bindjareb partnership at Karnet, 65km southeast of Perth, in December, equipping participants with the Certificate II in Civil Construction and machine tickets ahead of their approaching release dates. They will follow 146 previous graduates since 2018 and precede the resumption next year of a similar partnership in the Pilbara region.
Meanwhile, specialist labour-hire organisation Reboot Australia will complete the third WA intake of its Breaking Through program. When released in November, the Karnet graduates will emerge ready to kick-start their new careers equipped with their Cert II in Civil Construction, new life skills, industry readiness and tickets or qualifications in electives such as working at height, gas safety and fire mitigation skills.
These are just two of a growing range of partnership programs linking industry, community groups and other government agencies with the WA Justice Department that aim to reduce the stubbornly high rates of reoffending by released prisoners while also addressing the critical shortages of suitable recruits particularly in WA’s construction and mining sectors.
According to a 2025 Australian Productivity Commission study, 30.8% of prisoners who were released in Western Australia during 2021-22 ended up back behind bars within two years. While this is at least better than the national average of 43%, the state’s Corrective Services Commission identified reducing recidivism as a priority in its recently released 2025-2030 strategic plan.
The programs recognise the importance of employment to keeping past offenders out of trouble. “With steady jobs, the prisoners have an opportunity to change their behaviour, break the crime cycle and enhance their successful reintegration into the community,” Department of Justice Assistant Director Prisoner Employment Programs Larry Smith said recently.
Carey Training and Development CEO Raphael Poole said its programs were built on the simple belief that everyone deserves the opportunity to achieve a meaningful future through training, employment and connection to community.
Carey Training is part of Carey Group, Australia’s leading indigenous-owned mining, civil and general construction contracting, engineering and training business founded by Daniel Tucker in Perth in 1995. The specialist training arm now led by Ms Poole has delivered vocational education and employment services for commercial clients as well as its programs for prisoners in WA and South Australia for two decades.
Through its partnerships with governments in both states as well as national employment services charity Workskil Australia, Carey Training equips both Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants with hands-on training, mentoring and close collaboration with employers.
“We believe that skill development and steady employment are key to breaking cycles of disadvantage and creating lasting change,” Ms Poole said. “We support participants, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to transition from the justice system to industry, regaining their confidence, purpose and self-determination along the way.
“For me, there’s nothing more powerful than seeing someone who’s been given a second chance step onto a worksite with pride, earning respect, providing for, and being a role model to their family, and contributing to their community.
“That’s when you see what our work is truly about. It’s not just about training and qualifications. It’s about restoring purpose, dignity and belonging.”
Equally importantly, Carey’s training is guided by deep respect and understanding of Indigenous culture and history. “For us, acknowledging Indigenous history is not a symbolic gesture,” she said. “It is a foundation for how we teach, how we connect, and how we build respectful partnerships between communities, government and industry.”
The close partnership with the Corrective Services Commission was highlighted when commissioner Brad Royce joined founder and current executive chairman Daniel Tucker, group CEO Moses Panashe and Ms Poole to celebrate the Carey Group’s 30th anniversary this year. All took the opportunity to confirm their long-term commitment to the employment and self-determination programs.
Since its first Bindjareb program at Karnet in 2018, Carey’s comprehensive educational and mentoring courses leading to full-time career opportunities have achieved 54% success in terms of graduates who have not reoffended and remain in the community.
The courses draw on equipment and jobs support from Caterpillar mining and construction equipment dealer WesTrac in addition to the jobs pipeline offered by many supporting employers.
The Karnet Bindjareb model was extended to the Pilbara in 2023 as the Carey Maramara program, with an initial 10 indigenous inmates at Roebourne Prison graduating and being offered employment or further training pathways and achieving 80% success rates to date. After a pause this year, the Carey Maramara courses will resume in 2026 following the completion of badly needed infrastructure upgrades at the prison.
Carey Training’s more recently established Road to Redemption and Construct Your Career programs have had similar impacts in WA and South Australia, with 68% of the 165 Indigenous and 60 non-Indigenous male and female graduates remaining in full-time employment.
In SA, the Road to Redemption courses are integral to the state government’s commitment to reducing the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in jails and lowering recidivism rates through stable employment. SA now has the lowest recidivism rate in Australia, at 28.2%, and has set the goal of further reducing reoffending by 20% within the next year.
The Construct Your Career program, with its mix of Indigenous and non-Indigenous male and female participants, is gaining momentum in WA.
Graduates from both programs are recruited into state-funded infrastructure and construction projects for the many employers who support the group’s programs and vision.
“The successful reintegration into communities and employment of the graduates from these programs has helped to change the landscape and the appetite for prospective employers,” Ms Poole said.
“We are acutely aware that we are dealing with a vulnerable section of our communities. We don’t blow our own trumpet, (but) we quietly smile when we see a graduate step onto a worksite.”
“We don’t just dump ex-prisoners on employers. We work with employers, understand their needs...” – Anthony McShane, Reboot Australia
Reboot Australia’s Breaking Through program, now completing its third WA intake, has been run eight times nationally and delivered 98 graduates in just two years. Co-founder and general manager Anthony MacShane has just received the green light to run another three years of programs within WA.
Reboot’s programs develop relevant social, cultural, psychological and behavioural factors through mentoring, industry-relevant education and employer-tailored training before and after release. The three-phase, eight-stage plan connects the inmates with all services that can support their aim of building a life free of crime.
“Instead of duplicating existing services, Reboot Australia is the conduit that makes it as simple as possible for candidates, support services and employers,” Mr MacShane said.
“Working with candidates in prison allows us time to build trust, understand their unique situations and outline the key actions to achieve successful employment outcomes post-release.”
Mr MacShane stresses the holistic nature of the Reboot model. “It’s not just about getting someone a job,” he said. “It includes psychological, behavioural, cultural and social supports, helping them deal with barriers such as transport, housing, identity and the stigma of their past, as well as mentoring and continuing support post-release.”
It takes a similar attitude towards prospective employers. “We don’t just dump ex-prisoners on employers,” he said. “We work with employers, understand their needs, tailor programs and training to industry requirements, so the candidates are more ready, and employers get great workers who feel supported.”
Mr MacShane established the national not-for-profit with his son Jobe in 2022 after nearly five years of personal voluntary work in prisons across several states. He traces his impetus to a meeting with 12 indigenous men in a small classroom at Pinjarra back in 2017, when he was captivated by the inmates’ enthusiasm and openness as they listened and shared their own stories of challenges and learning.
But he also brings a uniquely varied life experience to the task. He has worked for more than 33 years across many industries, commencing in underground mining and progressing through civil and general construction to project management, running large-scale projects across WA. Along the way, he has also dealt with alcohol and drug addiction issues and served a prison sentence for drug dealing.
He emerged from all that determined to help others to break the cycle of incarceration. He volunteered and travelled to institutions across Australia wholly unfunded, speaking to near-release inmates about career opportunities and current job openings, what training they needed and how to keep a job.
Mr MacShane admits his personal background gives Reboot Australia credibility in the prison environment. “People listen because we’ve been there, made mistakes, and then turned it around,” he said.
By commencing training and mentoring prior to inmates’ release, Reboot develops trust and gives them time to plan. That leaves them having less idle time post-release, which also removes one of the main triggers for ex-prisoners to return to their old ways.
Along the way, the growing Reboot team has learned from small pilot programs while collecting data on educational and employment outcomes as well as longer-term recidivism that now help break down the stigma of employing ex-prisoners.
The challenges facing parolees are stark. In WA, the number of Indigenous people in jail is now 25% higher than the national average – and is growing at more than double the national average. An indigenous person in WA is 24 times more likely to go to prison.
National statistics show also 66% of people sentenced to prison were out of work at the time of the offence.
Mr MacShane compliments the WA Corrections Service for its “open arms” response to industry engagement, saying its enthusiasm has rolled on to its counterparts in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland – the other states where Reboot is active.
As for the response by employers, once the Reboot team explains the program and its 95% success rate to industry associations or individual companies, about 90% of businesses are on board with it. They can also see how it can help meet their environmental, social and governance targets, social procurement or social impact strategies.
“Many employers are now more open, especially in sectors with skills shortages such as construction and mining and where they see the need to improve workforce reliability and loyalty,” he said. “Employers need good people and at the end of the day we are opening up a cohort of workers who are largely overlooked, are local and desperate for work.”
Reboot Australia was named overall winner at the WA Social Enterprise Council awards in June, and Mr MacShane is confident its success will inspire other public and private sector groups. “There are some great companies doing some great work in this space,” he said. “Our successful model can definitely be replicated, and we hope it is by many. The problem is bigger than all of us, but we can all contribute.”
Originally published in the CCF WA Bulletin (Edition 3, 2025).
