Kenneth Harvey MILLER 1/5/2020
Parole Hearing
Under section 21(2) of the Parole Act 2002
Kenneth Harvey MILLER
Hearing: 1 May 2020
at Rolleston Prison via Teleconference
Members of the Board: Sir Ron Young – Chairperson
Dr J Skipworth
Counsel: Dr T Ellis – via Teleconference
DECISION OF THE BOARD
- Mr Miller is 61years of age. He was sentenced to preventive detention in 2006 for assault with intent to rape, unlawful sexual connection and male assaults female. He had previous convictions for rape and male assaults female prior to prior to his 2006 conviction and sentence.
- We last saw Mr Miller in September 2019. [withheld]. Mr Miller has had no group rehabilitative sessions relating to his sex offending but has had some one-on-one sessions with a psychologist. He has not made any real progress with respect to his high risk of reoffending from those sessions.
- To a degree Mr Miller has been somewhat stuck in prison without an obvious way forward. He is not susceptible to and is unlikely to reduce his high risk from the rehabilitative programmes currently available in prison either group or one-on-one.
- When we last spoke to Mr Miller and his counsel we suggested a potential way forward. We now have a number of further reports which may point the way for Mr Miller towards appropriate rehabilitation to address his current high-risk and his potential re-integration into the community.
- Counsel for Mr Miller suggested that the first stage was to refer Mr Miller back to [withheld] so that they might reassess their view of what help they can provide Mr Miller. Currently [withheld] view is that while Mr Miller qualifies for support from them because of his high-risk of sexual offending they cannot offer him any supported accommodation in the community.
- The report obtained by [withheld] a psychologist indicated that there should be programmes designed to reduce his risk of reoffending available for Mr Miller which would take into account [withheld] and that there should be able to be supportive arrangements in the community which could keep him safe and the community safe from him, while supporting him [withheld].
- The Parole Board supports any proposals aimed at reducing Mr Miller’s risk and identifying a way forward for him within the community. We therefore invite [withheld] to undertake further assessment of Mr Miller’s needs. We think that it is important that [withheld], (who has identified programmes and community support she believes will help Mr Miller) together with [withheld] and Corrections work together and try to identify a way forward for Mr Miller, in particular whether there programmes that may be available within the prison for someone with Mr Miller’s [withheld] (even if bespoke programmes) which might reduce his current high-risk; whether a release plan could be developed which would support Mr Miller appropriately in the community and of course keep him safe and the community safe from him. Finally Mr Miller has completed some work within the prison to improve his general understanding [withheld]. We encourage that to resume.
- Mr Miller therefore remains an undue risk and we will see him again in 12 months time by the end of April 2021 with the hope that by than a clear plan to move forward has been able to be identified.
- This decision has been issued following consideration of parole in accordance with the provisions of an epidemic management notice issued by the Government on 30 March 2020 and in accordance with section 13A of the Parole Act 2002. There has been a hearing conducted by a Panel Convenor and a Board member. All of the usual material has been considered and there has been a telephone discussion involving the Board, the offender, counsel and the Principal Corrections Officer.
Sir Ron Young
Chairperson