The recruitment process for corrections officers could be shortened after the Minister of Justice admitted she was “disappointed” with the slow pace of recruitment.

Kim Wilkerson spoke during a government-led podcast, where she offered several updates within her ministry, including work to set up a juvenile treatment court.

The Attorney-General said her ministry was finalising work permits for overseas recruits, expected to be on the island before the end of the year.

However, she said that, despite going through two rounds of recruitment since becoming minister, there were not enough officers needed to properly alleviate work stress.

Ms Wilkerson said: “It’s taken longer than I would’ve liked — we’ve reviewed the recruitment process, we’ve made it shorter, but it’s still not short enough.

“So that is something that we are undertaking — to, again, critically review to see in every round how we can improve and shorten the cycle of recruitment so that officers get in the seats, so they get in the programme and so that we can relieve our officers from having to work in short staff conditions and be overworked.”

Ms Wilkerson was speaking during an episode of Leaders on the Record, a podcast interviewing government ministers about concerns surrounding their remits.

She spoke to Tari Trott, with the Government’s Department of Communications, on the podcast’s eighth episode today.

Prison staff shortages were one of the major problems listed during an independent review from the Detention Standards Review Panel last year.

The panel recognised staff shortages, particularly at Westgate, as having a “significant impact” on staff morale — a problem echoed by the Prison Officers Association.

Timothy Seon, the POA’s head, said in 2024 there were about 145 working with a staff schedule for 244 people.

Ms Wilkerson said in March that a prior recruitment drive had started off with 37 trainees, only to end with six in the graduating class.

The justice minister, who had streamlined the recruitment process, said today that local officers were expected to start training “very shortly”.

Ms Wilkerson emphasised: “I want members of the public to recognise that it’s not an easy process to hire corrections officers because it’s not a job most people want to do.

“However, when people are interested in that job, we want to get them on board.”

The Ministry of Justice said in a statement released after the interview that it was streamlining the process of recruiting and training new officers without lowering standards.

The statement said: “For the first time, applicants could take the written assessments online. Health assessments moved to external providers, which cut waiting times.

“No assessment was removed and no standard was lowered, only the way the stages are delivered has changed.”

Detailing its recruitment efforts, the ministry said seven overseas recruits are in training and, of 184 local applications received this year, 18 candidates are now approaching their final assessments

The ministry said: “The main obstacles in local recruitment have been applicants not meeting the qualifying criteria needed to advance, along with a significant number who don’t attend scheduled assessments or don’t complete later stages.

“Each stage of recruitment tests whether an applicant is suited to the physical and mental demands of correctional work.”

Ms Wilkerson also gave an update on the proposed Juvenile Treatment Court, assuring the public that a director and participants have been selected.

The programme will be directed by Frankco Harris, a criminologist and PhD candidate, and developed in conjunction with members of the judiciary.

Senior magistrate Maxanne Anderson, who helps lead other treatment court programmes such as Mental Health Treatment Court and Drug Treatment, will serve as one of the organisers.

Ms Wilkerson said the programme would run in conjunction with a “robust, co-ordinated juvenile justice reform strategy” now under way.

Part of this strategy would involve updating the Young Offenders Act 1951, which she said could be outdated in some areas.

The justice minister said: “It’s about having that balance between what we consider to be penalised-based response and a preventive-based response to youth offenders.”

Another aspect of juvenile justice reform would involve pushing legislation that would list children who witnessed domestic abuse as individual victims.

Ms Wilkerson said witnessing abuse could have a significant impact on children’s upbringing — something she saw first-hand when reviewing records on sex offenders.

She said: “I have the job of having to read the assessments of those offenders at the time that they are about to leave corrections.

“I can tell you, in almost every case they would have been a victim of sexual abuse or domestic abuse by having seen it and experienced it in their early childhood — and that is staggering to me.”

Ms Wilkerson said the planned Domestic Abuse Court programme was up and running, though she admitted it was “not running with all of the support systems originally envisioned”.

She told Mr Trott she would prefer to have the court running and fixed over time than “wait for it to be perfect to start”.

Ms Wilkerson added there was a “wide-ranging reform committee” looking to reduce the number of times victims would be called upon to give evidence.

She explained: “What we’ve heard from victims of domestic violence and those affected is that, too often, they have to tell their story in too many places.

“We recognise the need to co-ordinate across ministries and across agencies that touch on this issue so that the victim, however impacted, is dealt with more expeditiously, but certainly not having to continue telling the story.”

The ministry clarified that additional measures were being phased in to the programme, included the introduction of a dedicated senior probation officer, additional specialist training for staff and strengthened community supervision measures.

The statement continued: “The ministry chose to launch the court once its core elements were in place so victims benefit now while the remaining supports are added.”

The full podcast can be listened to on Spotify or through the Government’s website.