Southampton

At the Vedic Society Hindu Temple, offenders worked from plans drawn up by students at Sparsholt College to transform land beside the temple into an exotic garden. The project, bringing together councils, the temple, college and the Probation Service is a great example of the work that can be undertaken by offenders.

Aldershot

A church in the heart of town redesigned the rooms behind it’s place of worship  to offer the growing congregation better facilities and homeless people a drop-in centre. Offenders undertook the painting and decorating of all the new areas.

The Bishop was very pleased with the results of the project – “this has saved us thousands of pounds and it has obvious three way benefits. We benefit, the community sees that recompense is made for crimes that have been committed and these people doing the work gain both new skills and appreciation for a job well done.”

Fratton

The garden at Nourish Court, an independent living complex for retired people in Fratton, Portsmouth, was given a makeover during the summer.

The project was the brainchild of a Police Community Support Officer. Officers from the Kingston Safer Neighbourhoods Team, based at Fratton police station, worked alongside offenders on Community Payback orders to give a new lease of life to the garden which had been neglected and unused for many years.

Jeff Harris, Community Payback Placement Manager, said “Projects like these give the offenders new work and life skills which help them in their rehabilitation process. It gives them the chance to help others and interact with people from different walks of life, as well as repaying their debt to society”.