DRUG CRIME FORCES NEW YOUTH PRISON PLAN

The State Government is planning to build a new prison for young offenders
and has been forced to keep open the decrepit Turana centre due to
increased numbers of youths being jailed for serious drug-related crimes.

The Department of Human Services last week sought expressions of interest
for a "masterplan of the Parkville juvenile justice centre precinct". The
plan would include accommodation, admissions and visiting areas as well as
program and support areas to replace Turana. The new facility would be at
Turana's Parkville site and adjacent land on the Melbourne Extended Care
and Aged Rehabilitation site.

The Minister for Community Services, Christine Campbell, ruled out the
possibility of a privatised centre.

Despite the government's emphasis on finding alternatives to prison for
young people, the number of youths being sentenced to juvenile justice
facilities increased by 15 per cent last year.

Adding to the pressure on beds, an influx of 18-year-olds from adult
prisons to the youth centres is expected due to reforms likely to be
introduced at the end of the year or early in 2002.

In August last year Ms Campbell described Turana as "substandard and
totally unacceptable". Last week she told The Sunday Ageshe had intended
closing Turana by June 30 this year. But it was "a bigger challenge" than
expected. "The one driver of how fast Turana can close (that) I don't have
any control of, is the court sentencing," she said. "While they are
increasing sentencing to us at 15 per cent more, and less 15 per cent to
the adult system, it makes my job that much more difficult. We are going to
close Turana as soon as it is humanly possible."

Earlier this year, the government closed 16 beds at Turana, leaving 24
operating.

The building commonly known as Turana is part of the Melbourne Juvenile
Justice Centre, in Parkville. The centre has 99 beds for male offenders,
most of whom are heroin users convicted of drug-related crimes. Ms Campbell
conceded that heroin was smuggled into juvenile justice facilities. "Any
minister who says there is no heroin in any one of the custodial facilities
is fooling themselves," she said.

But she rejected calls for clean syringes to be provided, saying she
preferred to continue with rehabilitation and methadone programs.

Ms Campbell also denied a claim by Melbourne criminal barrister Richard
Bourke that young people were becoming addicted after using heroin for the
first time in youth custodial facilities.

Mr Bourke, who is the secretary of the Criminal Bar Association, said: "The
vast majority of young people in youth training centres today are
heroin-addicted and many who go in without a heroin addiction will leave
with one." He said this had happened to a 17-year-old client of his.

The government has not announced the new prison nor any change in its
juvenile justice strategy, announced in August last year. The strategy
seeks to limit the numbers in juvenile justice facilities and detain young
offenders only as a last resort. Under its policy of finding alternatives
to imprisonment, it was expected that 46 fewer custodial beds would be
required across the system.

Mr Bourke accused the government of trying to keep the numbers of young
people in custody down so it could close Turana. "We are currently seeing
increased numbers of young people being put out on leave and youth parole
and we're also seeing a tightening up of the standards for getting young
people into youth training centres," Mr Bourke said. "All these things are
aimed at reducing the numbers of kids in youth training centres so that
facility can be closed."

Ms Campbell denied this, saying that while the courts were sentencing more
offenders to custody, the Youth Parole Board was releasing them faster
because it was satisfied that post-release services had improved.