When Steve’s brother, John, passed away from cancer and left a small estate, Steve and his family wanted to donate some money to try and make a difference to people who faced similar challenges to John.
Steve says that John had a record since he was 4½ years old. With no family support, he and his siblings became wards of the State, and were moved to orphanages. His record began even before he had a chance.
“John had a horrible childhood,” says Steve. “We were traumatised, and it was worse for John because he was gay.”
He was very bright. He excelled at school, knew his history, was brilliant at English and could even recite poetry. He finished his Leaving Certificate (year 11), —rare for the boys from the orphanage—before getting a job in a bank. Then, living in private boarding houses, John got in with the wrong crowd, initially becoming involved in art theft. He first went to gaol when he was about 20.
“When you come out of an orphanage, you’re just released from absolute regimentation in everything you do, into a life without control,” says Steve. “I’m not surprised he landed where he did.”
John spent the next 30 years in and out of prison for a variety of crimes, mostly estranged from his siblings, and unable to keep a job.
“Because of the upbringing in the orphanage and in prisons, he was very volatile. The first time somebody said something he didn’t like he would fly into a rage. That’s why he went from one job to another,” says Steve.
“But in later jobs, they seemed to understand him a bit more. I don’t know if they’d worked with an organisation like Jesuit Social Services – we never talked about it. But I often wondered how he held those jobs down. And when he did, it was the best thing that ever happened to him.”
When he passed, John had been out of gaol for over 20 years. He had reconnected with his brothers and had said he wished he’d done so years before.
Steve’s wish is that through this gift, John’s legacy will help others in the justice system address trauma and encourage reconnection with family and community earlier than John could. It will hopefully also help people to understand a life of crime that can easily start with trauma caused through family poverty, neglect and alcoholism.
As Steve says, “If you just look at society with all these knives and violence we’re seeing, and you want to see a better society, it requires investment in young lives before they become derailed and entrenched in crime. It also requires compassion for those leaving prison, helping them to establish good connections to stop them from reoffending, helping to keep them out of the justice system.
Donating towards achieving these aims provides a great sense of satisfaction when you see young people that started with little hope trying hard to turn their lives around, and many of them actually achieving it. We would like to think John has helped them as well.”
