Zachary is finding his way after years in jail

AFTER spending most of his childhood in jail, Townsville teen Zachary Sinclair- Tseros says he has turned his back on his life of crime.

Mr Sinclair- Tseros started getting involved in crime when he was just 10.

Now 18 and having worked closely with the Stronger Communities Action Group, Mr Sinclair- Tseros says he wants to lead a “respectable” life and has a goal of becoming a personal trainer.

His criminal career began with chroming and shoplifting, quickly escalating into break- ins and car theft.

Mr Sinclair- Tseros said he had lost count of how many houses he had broken into over the years, but guessed it was more than 100.

“I first went to Cleveland ( Youth Detention Centre) when I was 12,” he said. “I was there for five years, in an out.

“I’d be locked away for like four months, get out for a couple of weeks and then just go back in.”

Mr Sinclair- Tseros said he got involved in crime because he hung around the wrong crowd and had a difficult home life; he experienced drugs and violence at an age when most children would be playing with action figures.

He said life was often easier in youth detention than it would have been at home.

“Cleveland was cruisy,” Mr Sinclair- Tseros said.

“I liked the school there, I liked the sport … if you were good you had a TV until 10.30pm and a radio on the wall. It was heaps easier than home.”

Mr Sinclair- Tseros said it was during a stretch at Townsville Correctional Centre at Stuart – with adults – that he got involved with the Stronger Communities Action Group and started working towards a better life.

He was at Stuart for his 18th birthday last year.

Mr Sinclair- Tseros was one of the youngest inmates in the adult prison at the time and was being held in remand after threatening a bottleshop staff member with a knife.

“I don’t want to go back to Stuart … it was scary,” he said. “The first couple of nights, you just stay up and cry.

“I got a phone call when I was inside and I was told that Mum was really sick and I had seen this other fellow who had a similar background to me and he was doing a program in jails … he showed me there were other ways of having fun, showed me how to do gym.”

Since being released late last year, Mr Sinclair- Tseros has gotten himself a job labouring, is living with his sister Deanna Widdison, who is supporting the changes he is