Emily Harris is the youngest of three generations of Prison Officers working at the same time at Bathurst Gaol, employed alongside her mum, Stacey, and grandmother Maree.  

“I look up to Nan and want to model the way she works,” said Emily. “She has a lot of respect from others; I want to mirror her career, and Mum’s too.”

“The training was intense but fantastic – it put me out of my comfort zone, I challenged myself and pushed through, and learned a lot of things I never thought I’d be able to do.”

She will be in good hands at work, as her mother prides herself as a mentor for women working in the prison.

“A big thing for me is helping younger, female staff who are coming through; to be a role model, or a mentor, is a special part of this job,” said Stacey. “It’s not a man’s world anymore.”

Stacey said her mother, Maree, “always worked in areas dominated by males”.

Maree said she enjoyed working with young offenders.

“One of the first things I did was camping with the Young Offenders Program – I was ankle deep in snow thinking, ‘what have I done?’,” she said. “Then their parents saw a change, they saw the light had come on, their kids now spoke to them, and they thanked me for guiding them … that was my lightbulb moment.”