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NSW to get nation's first drug jail
The Sydney Morning Herald
May 10, 2004 - 8:07PM
One hundred repeat drug offenders doing time in NSW will be transferred to Australia's first compulsory drug treatment jail under legislation to be introduced to parliament this week.
The $6 million, two-year trial program will be run at a special facility within western Sydney's Parklea Correctional Centre.
The facility is expected to open late next year and will be overseen by the specialist Parramatta Drug Court.
The state government said that under the trial, offenders would be forced to undergo "intensive abstinence-based treatment", similar to those operating in the Netherlands and the United States.
"This is a new way to protect the community by breaking the cycle of drugs and crime," Premier Bob Carr said.
To qualify for the program offenders must have a long-term addiction, be currently serving a sentence of 18 months to three years, and have been convicted of other offences at least three times in the past five years.
So-called "pharmacotherapy treatment" such as the methadone program for heroin addicts will generally not be available.
Mr Carr said the move was a last resort for people for whom non-compulsory treatment had failed and who were continually clogging up the courts and jails due to drug-related crime.
"These are criminals who have tried treatment, and failed; those continually before courts," he said.
"If we can break their drug habits through compulsory treatment it will have an impact on assault rates, break and enters and other drug-related crimes."
Those convicted of serious offences including murder, sexual assault, commercial drug trafficking and firearms offences will be excluded from the scheme.
The program will begin with 100 adult male offenders from western Sydney, although that number could increase as it gets underway.
The scheme comprises three stages - intensive treatment, then work or study release from prison, and then home detention.
Each stage will last at least six months.
If the two-year trial is deemed a success and continues, female offenders will be included in the scheme.
© 2004 AAP
The Sydney Morning Herald
May 10, 2004 - 8:07PM
One hundred repeat drug offenders doing time in NSW will be transferred to Australia's first compulsory drug treatment jail under legislation to be introduced to parliament this week.
The $6 million, two-year trial program will be run at a special facility within western Sydney's Parklea Correctional Centre.
The facility is expected to open late next year and will be overseen by the specialist Parramatta Drug Court.
The state government said that under the trial, offenders would be forced to undergo "intensive abstinence-based treatment", similar to those operating in the Netherlands and the United States.
"This is a new way to protect the community by breaking the cycle of drugs and crime," Premier Bob Carr said.
To qualify for the program offenders must have a long-term addiction, be currently serving a sentence of 18 months to three years, and have been convicted of other offences at least three times in the past five years.
So-called "pharmacotherapy treatment" such as the methadone program for heroin addicts will generally not be available.
Mr Carr said the move was a last resort for people for whom non-compulsory treatment had failed and who were continually clogging up the courts and jails due to drug-related crime.
"These are criminals who have tried treatment, and failed; those continually before courts," he said.
"If we can break their drug habits through compulsory treatment it will have an impact on assault rates, break and enters and other drug-related crimes."
Those convicted of serious offences including murder, sexual assault, commercial drug trafficking and firearms offences will be excluded from the scheme.
The program will begin with 100 adult male offenders from western Sydney, although that number could increase as it gets underway.
The scheme comprises three stages - intensive treatment, then work or study release from prison, and then home detention.
Each stage will last at least six months.
If the two-year trial is deemed a success and continues, female offenders will be included in the scheme.
© 2004 AAP