A Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) study on vocational training in NSW prisons found that some inmates who complete traineeships in custody are up to 60 per cent less likely to reoffend.

It also found that, 12 months after inmate trainees were released, there was a 17 per cent reduction in personal, property and serious drug offending among Aboriginal trainees, and a 45 per cent reduction in property offending among all groups of trainees.

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Corrections NSW is working to to reduce reoffending by five per cent by 2023, and has welcomed the report's findings.

Traineeships are proving successful at Bathurst Correctional Centre, both while the inmates are serving their sentence and after their release.

Governor Brett Lees said the inmates who undertake traineeships "take it very seriously".

"It's not only the work they do here at the centre, they also get the national-accredited educational requirements as well, so they can actually come out with some form of qualification," he said.

"The guys that do it, they take it very seriously.

"... You see a bit of a change in them, because they've got something to aspire to, whereas normally here in custody it is just waiting out your time. They've got something else to do with their time and their life and hopefully they can go forward from there."

There are currently 12 inmates at the Bathurst jail who are working through traineeships.

Four inmates are doing Animal Studies, three each doing Construction Pathways 2 and Kitchen Operations 2, and two undertaking a Certificate II in Warehousing Operations.

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A lot of time is dedicated to their study.

"In general, we work them every day during the week. The guys who are doing the Kitchen Operations traineeship, for example, may work seven days a week in relation to that, and it keeps them out of trouble," Mr Lees said.

Inmates who are working on their traineeships are the easiest to manage at the facility.

"As sad as it is, a lot of the inmates in custody have never had the educational luxuries most of us had, whether they've not gone to school or left school really early. This is another path forward for them," Mr Lees said.

"They don't give us any trouble these guys. They want to take it on board and they see where it is going to go for them, so they take it seriously and they don't cause us grief at all."

Mr Lees would like to see the traineeship program expand with more inmates involved, and for apprenticeships to be introduced to more corrections facilities.

"It doesn't sound like a lot, but if you don't have an education or a school certificate equivalent, if you've got a construction traineeship behind you and a white card you could leave custody and go out and get a job," he said.

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