Offenders from Wick court help ‘transform’ community space - tolerance is key to help stop cycle of reoffending

A village hall in Caithness has been “completely transformed” thanks to the efforts of a much-maligned group in society.

Pat Ramsay praised the “fantastic” work the community payback team has done to improve Staxigoe Hall near Wick and described them as an “invaluable resource”.

It’s often not the first reaction the public might have when an offender is sentenced with an “unpaid work order” at Wick Sheriff Court, but the work that goes on behind the scenes is helping to shape communities across the area.

Gabrielle Buist from Highland Community Justice Partnership (HCJP) – a partnership of organisations from across the public and third sector to support better awareness of help and support available to people at different stages within the justice system – said it does require a degree of tolerance from the community but can lead to lasting benefits for the offenders as well as society as a whole.

She said: “A sentence in the community can change the path of a person’s life, as well as contributing to and improving their community. It is often community leaders such as Pat Ramsay who appreciate that we all have to pull together, to invest time and skills in people in order to make our communities safer in the long term.

“Useful work gets done all around Highland communities which mostly goes unseen and unacknowledged. This is part of my role as HCJP development officer to raise awareness about what ‘community justice’ is and why it’s important.

“As the saying goes, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ – well our responsibility towards one another should not end there. Community justice is all about partnership and collaboration, recognising that keeping people safe and reducing reoffending is a joint responsibility.”

Staxigoe Hall has been painted and decorated on three separate occasions by the community payback team. It is situated opposite the historic harbour, the first and largest herring salting station in Europe. Up to 50 herring boats could be moored at the small harbour during the fishing boom of the 19th century.

Pat Ramsay is chairperson of the Staxigoe Hall board and her husband Grant is a trustee.

Pat said: “I am delighted with the ongoing support from the justice service over many years. Our most recent project, the refurbishing of Staxigoe Village Hall, has been fantastic. The hall has had a complete new heating system installed plus internal and external insulation along with LED lighting throughout.

“The justice team has cleared the place of rubbish and then completed a programme of painting – the main hall being the largest aspect. It’s a complete transformation with a new contemporary colour scheme.

“The team have been so flexible in their timescale, allowing us to run a few events before our official reopening soon. We’ve appreciated the regular communication and weekly updates which have been vital.

“The team are also working on the picnic benches at the harbour, ready for the sunny days. They will also continue with their summer programme of grass cutting at the harbour plus the hall. They are an invaluable resource in our area and their work is appreciated by our community.”

Bob Miller, a community payback supervisor, said: “Undertaking such sizeable projects as Staxigoe Hall is very satisfying knowing that if we weren’t here to help, it just wouldn’t get done.

“I’m a time-served painter and decorator to trade, and I take pride in showing the clients how to effectively prepare and complete the task to a high standard. It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to know that clients are taking away valuable skills which they can use elsewhere to hopefully make their lives better in the long term.”

One of those clients, as the partnership describes the offenders who are on the payback programme, has been working on the project at Staxigoe for a few weeks. They said: “It’s good to learn new things about painting and decorating, which Bob shows us, and knowing that we are doing some good in the community makes it all worthwhile.

“Since starting this job, I can even say that I actually look forward to my unpaid work day and have even come out doing extra days.”

According to the HCJP, community justice can help people to stop breaking the law and to step away from the vicious cycle of reoffending. Sentences served in the community are more effective than those served in prison, they say, because they keep people in their communities where they are connected to all the important relationships and support networks needed for a productive life, resulting in less crime being committed.

Where needed, community-based sentences include treatment for underlying issues such as drug or alcohol addiction, offence-focused programmes, unpaid work, fines and compensation or restrictions of liberty such as electronic tagging and curfews. It’s not a “soft option” and neither is it “just litter picking”.

Steve MacDonald, Highland Council’s community payback officer, said: “Clients who are sent to us from Wick Sheriff Court have a legal obligation to pay back to the community that they have offended against.

“It’s important to give them structure, meaningful tasks and hopefully learn new skills while being mentored and encouraged by the supervisors. The value of the community payback order to both the client and to the community cannot be understated as they are a proven method of minimising the likelihood of a client reoffending.”

Gabrielle Buist added: “The chances of someone reoffending are reduced significantly when they can maintain their contact with family, their accommodation and their work.

“Community justice is about finding ways for offenders to serve a sentence from home, while getting support to rehabilitate and the opportunity to give back to the community. There is, of course, a place for prisons, but like James Timpson (the UK prisons minister) says, only one third of offenders need to be behind bars.

“This does call for a degree of tolerance from our communities, along with the willingness to actively offer meaningful jobs, as well as individual placements, especially in remote parts of Highland.”

The Highland Community Justice Partnership is thankful to all the groups which are working with community payback teams and offering projects and placements. These; include charity shops, churches, community hubs, gardens and cafes, trusts, and groups across the region.

Organisations which have jobs that need done or would consider taking on a placement are encouraged to get in touch for an initial chat. The HCJP can be reached via email on criminaljustice@highland.gov.uk or by phone for the Caithness and Sutherland team on 01955 603161.