Community Service......help please!

far2812

Hello all

As you may have read from previous threads, my now ex-partner is an alcoholic and has had problems for years.

I left him for the sake of my own sanity but did try to help him.

He was caught driving without insurance last year (not drinking) and was give 80 hours community service.

He, due to his alcoholism, has only managed to do 9 hours so far - chest infections, pancreatitis, hospital twice and gall bladder removal.

His parents are prepared to pay for him to go into a rehabilitation facility to try to get him sorted.

What would be thre case with the community service in this case? Would they suspend it if he went to rehab or would he have to wait until it is completed or would they write it off?

He is expected to be in rehab for 18 weeks.

I would be grateful for any advice anyone could give as realistically rehab is going to be better for everyone all around than community service.

Many thanks

richardvc

I guess they may cut him some slack whilst he is in rehab but would still expect him to complete his community service once he is out but my opinion is based on no experience whatsoever so could be completely wrong.

Would rehab = medical treatment in the eyes of the people who enforce community service ?

BTW - full marks to you for supporting him.

xmaslolly76

I believe you may be able to get an extention on the time he has been allocated to do the hrs but he will have to go back to court to get it best thing to do is to speak to the officer who over sees his job allocations.

Mupette

If there is a valid reason why they are not doing community service then this is looked at by their probation officer.

This would be the first point of call, is speak to one of the leaders on cs or probation officer if he has one.

It is important that one or both of these are told and kept up to date, missed cs will end him back in court with further time added to do.

elvis86

As others have said, unless his officer submits an application to the sentencing court (or the magistrates court in his local area if he was sentenced elsewhere) to have the unpaid work requirement revoked, he will still be required to carry out these hours.

Generally offenders are required to work a certain minimum amount of hours per week (generally a full day/7 hours), however, an exception may be made upon receipt of proof that he has entered this rehab programme. The requirement to complete hours could be suspended, and the operational length of the order extended if necessary to allow for his time in rehab.

However, if he has such a bad alcohol problem, and is free to go into rehab for 12 weeks, I am guessing that he is unemployed, therefore personally I would think it only fair that he was required to complete his outstanding unpaid work hours following rehab. The hours are a punishment for the crime he was convicted of after all.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Wouldn't that get him off from the punishment he deserves for committing the offence?

It's not yours or his parents' problem to pay for rehab. The probation officer and perhaps an adult social worker would be able to find the best solution without someone else parachuting in to 'help' him. Is there not an equivalent of a DTTO? Perhaps, if there is, an application could be made to change the requirements (and then it might become free)

But those things are for him to sort out, nobody else. Otherwise, it's just thousands down the drain after thousands down his throat.

Janepig

There is something called National Standards, which the Probation Service work to, and it requires people who are on unpaid work to do at least one day a week (there are exceptions where people have to do more).

National Standards can be "suspended" by the supervising Probation Officer if there is a medical certificate for a period of time, however, given that your ex has only 9 hours since last year, then I'm surprised this hasn't been acted on already.

I can only assume that he is in contact with his supervising Probation Officer with regard to his situation, because if he wasn't then he would be breached and would be back in Court for more hours or a complete re-sentencing.

When an order becomes unworkable (as it seems it may be in this case) then the supervising officer, armed with medical evidence, can apply to the Court for the order to be revoked and for a more appropriate sentence to be substituted. However, I'm surprised that given the length of time that has elapsed, that this hasn't been applied for already. He only has 12 months in which to do the hours.

Basically he needs to have a chat with his supervising officer, inform him/her of the current circumstances, provide relevant med certs, and full details of the rehab, when he is going to be there, etc... and see exactly what course of action the officer thinks is appropriate.

Jxx

Janepig

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Wouldn't that get him off from the punishment he deserves for committing the offence?

It's not yours or his parents' problem to pay for rehab. The probation officer and perhaps an adult social worker would be able to find the best solution without someone else parachuting in to 'help' him. Is there not an equivalent of a DTTO? Perhaps, if there is, an application could be made to change the requirements (and then it might become free)

But those things are for him to sort out, nobody else. Otherwise, it's just thousands down the drain after thousands down his throat.

Often when the Probation Service interview someone before they are sentenced so they can advise the Court on what's appropriate, offenders will gloss over their problems (such as alcoholism) because they seem to think they are more at risk of going to prison. Those problems then become apparent when they can't do the order and things have to be looked at again - although in this case with my cynical head on, he seems to have stopped at 9 hours, which would be one day, so maybe he's had a go at it and decided he didn't want to do it?

Anyway, it depends on the Probation area as to what sort of schemes they have for those who have substance misuse problems, but I would imagine that the area that are supervising the OP's ex would have some partnership agencies and/or programmes designed to help alcoholics/drug addicts under a supervision condition rather than unpaid work. However, not knowing the person's previous convictions, it may be that he is a very low risk offender and so supervision would not be suitable on that basis. I can't imagine that his alcoholism would have necessarily contributed to his no insurance offence would it?

Lots of factors at play here, and I always find that without knowing the full background and circumstances (and I'm not suggesting the OP goes into that) it is difficult to offer concrete advice.

Jxx

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I must admit, my more cynical head comes into play here - getting up in the morning and working is such much more unpleasant than wailing 'but I've realised I'm ill! Don't make me do this nasty work anymore!', normally meaning 'I want to go home and drink my Tennants as usual uninterrupted by nasty community service'. As far as I remember from my driving licence application, he shouldn't have even been in a car with alcoholism, so he wouldn't have been covered by any insurance on earth at that point, whether he be stone cold sober or not.

But you know much more than me, it's a while since I worked for Probation or Mental Health Services, so I'm a bit out of the loop here.

I still think it's his problem to sort out, not the OP's or his parents, and if he ends up in bigger trouble because he doesn't want to do it and medical evidence cannot be produced proving he is unfit to do it, that's his lookout, not theirs.

Janepig

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

I still think it's his problem to sort out, not the OP's or his parents, and if he ends up in bigger trouble because he doesn't want to do it and medical evidence cannot be produced proving he is unfit to do it, that's his lookout, not theirs.

I agree with this - I always wonder what's worse, parents who don't give a monkeys, or the ones who "baby" the offender by ringing around for them and trying to run their lives for them - albeit I completely understand that they are concerned for their son. I'm also sure that they can pay for rehab all they like, if he's not ready to address his alcoholism then it's money down the drain!

Also, given the number of people who are reluctant to undertake PAID employment, having to do UNPAID work is the final insult!!

Jxx

far2812

Thanks everyoe for the responses.

To be honest, his parents and family and myself sat him down and talked to him about what he wanted to do!

Basically he cannot do his probation because he is drunk all the time and you cannot simply tell an active alcoholic so not drink that day - if it worked like that - there would be a lot more happy people out there!

We are all at the end of the road and the option of rehab came when I rang around and did some research. He had to go for an assessment first which to be honest we all thought he would fall at the first hurdle and pull out but he didn't. He was completely honest with the Rehab Manager (I found out a lot of stuff I didn't know and have to deal with myself).

His parents have decided to give him this one opportunity to get the help that he desperately needs. It is not an easy hotel away job - it is a very intense and strict/structured program that he will have to adhere to at all costs.

I just think - everyone should be given a chance.

On the note of the probation - most of ye were right - I rang his Probation officer and as he had been in touch with her (although drunk) - she said she was prepared to take it back to the Court with the evidence of his residential rehab and ask them to revoke the order.