Custodial Officer Administrative Detention 80–100 %

About the job

Start date:

immediately or by arrangement

Workplace:

Gampelen

The Witzwil Correctional Facility enforces sentences and measures on 184 adult men in open imprisonment as well as in administrative detention under immigration law. The inmates are guided and supported in various professions in agriculture, trade, and supply according to work-educational principles. Around 140 employees work consistently towards the goal of socialisation and reducing recidivism among prisoners. Production goals and enforcement goals do not compete but complement each other.

Your tasks

As a custodial officer in administrative detention, you are responsible for the care, management, and support of around 8–10 persons held in administrative detention. You ensure a structured, safe, and comprehensible daily routine in detention and consistently implement the legal mandate.

• Managing detainees within the framework of administrative detention under immigration law
• Preparing and updating enforcement and progress reports for referring authorities
• Performing social service tasks in the detention context
• Responsibility for the orderly running within the residential group
• Professional handling of conflicts, resistance, and emotionally challenging situations
• Accompanying leisure and occupational activities
• Close interdisciplinary cooperation with internal and external agencies
• Handling demanding administrative tasks
• You always act in a legally compliant, proportionate, and respectful manner, even in challenging situations. The work is organised in shifts including day, late, and weekend duties.

Your profile

• Training in social, educational, or commercial fields or equivalent professional experience
• Ideally experience in the correctional system, administrative detention, or a comparable environment
• High resilience, assertiveness, and emotional stability
• Confident demeanour even in conflicts, threats, or resistance
• Respectful and professional interaction with people from diverse cultural backgrounds
• Teamwork skills, ability to accept criticism, and willingness for self-reflection
• Very good written German skills, good spoken French skills
• Additional language skills (especially English, Italian, Spanish, or other commonly spoken languages) are an advantage
• Proficient use of common PC applications

We offer you

• A challenging and responsible role in the field of administrative detention
• A structured introduction to the specific enforcement area
• A meaningful task at the intersection of law, security, and humanity
• Work-related training or further education at the Swiss Competence Centre for Correctional Services
• Contemporary employment conditions according to cantonal regulations

Contact

We look forward to receiving your application. Please send your application documents online by 27.11.2026. For further information, please contact Zudija Kodzadziklioski, Head of Department, Tel. 031 636 60 34.

About the Office of Correctional Services

The Office of Correctional Services (AJV) employs around 1000 staff within the Security Directorate of the Canton of Bern (SID) and is responsible for open and closed penal and measure enforcement for adults and juveniles. To fulfil this task, the office has at its disposal four concordat correctional facilities, four regional prisons, the surveillance station at Inselspital, the detention control centre, as well as probation and enforcement services.

https://www.ajv.sid.be.ch/de/start.html