The Tuesday Group in Timaru has been a remarkable success according to Timaru CPPS Service Manager Kevin Foley.
“Most of these people would have dropped out of ordinary work parties. But since this special group was set up six months ago there has not been a single breach.”
“The group was created to improve our responsiveness,” says Kevin. “We had discovered some of the barriers that could prevent people from complying with their sentence. And we had noticed there were certain offenders who fell between the cracks.
"Without wanting to put a label on them, you could say that these offenders need a special kind of management. They often are not able to work to the level expected of the usual offender and sometimes they can take an undue amount of the supervisor’s attention. In this respect I think Max Miller takes a big part of the credit in managing this group as he’s a great supervisor.”
No regrets
Max stays cool under the praise. He says, “I just enjoy the group. It’s not them and me. It is us in this together and we have to get a job done.” Max used to be a farmer until a few months ago. While driving his tractor, he thought, “Do I really want to do this for the rest of my life?”
After seeing the Corrections’ advertisement he decided to lease the farm and give it a go. Max has not had any regrets. He also likes supervising two regular teams of offenders and says, “The main difference is that those offenders are more assertive. Those teams have their own demands.”
The ex-farmer thanks his down-to-earth attitude for the rapport he has built with the Tuesday Group. These offenders might get bullied in an ordinary group but nothing like that happens at the Tuesday Group. “We manage their starting and finishing times differently to other groups due to their special requirements. But they still complete the total amount of hours they are sentenced to.”
Personalise
“Not having had one offender breach a sentence is fantastic,” Kevin says. “Mind you, Timaru is pretty small and we only have about 170 offenders on community work. So perhaps we are able to personalise our groups a bit more.”
Max adds that the jobs they select might have had a positive effect too: “We tend to go for regular jobs in a quiet environment. One of our projects is the maintenance of the Orari School grounds. We work at the school while it is closed so the working party does not have to be in the eye of the public.”
Max says that the working party treats the Orari School grounds as if it’s their own project. A note from Dave and Rhoda from Oakhaven Trust says it all. “Thank you for the hard work. The grounds look neat and tidy and you have given us a good start for spring.”
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ISSN 1178-1327