DRUG TREATMENT PROGRAM AIMED AT SASK. INMATES

REGINA - The Saskatchewan government is contributing $225,000
to continue developing substance abuse treatment programs at
provincial jails.

The funding will go toward staffing costs and further development of a
treatment unit for a pilot program being run out of the Regina
Correctional Centre, said Corrections, Public Safety and Policing
Minister Darryl Hickie.

The addictions treatment unit started offering full programming early
in April. Eligible inmates are moved to the unit to take part in a
28-day treatment schedule, staffed by specially trained employees.
While the number of inmates currently taking part -- and expected to
participate as the program evolves -- was not immediately known,
Hickie said it's clear the need is great.

"We have a very high rate of substance abuse self-disclosed by the
offenders that get sentenced," he said. "(It) ranges from 80 to 93 per
cent, in fact, based on 80 per cent of our offenders in secure custody
admitting to having substance abuse issues and 93 per cent in the
general population admitting to it. We also relate that there's a
direct correlation between substance abuse and their offending
behaviour. So addictions counselling alone, they recognized, wasn't
enough."

While basic addictions counselling will continue to be available for
inmates, the treatment unit will provide a more intensive option for
some.

"The staff members here are more trained in a lot of the motivational
kind of concepts and there's members from the health regions that are
going to be brought in as well to talk more detail in addictions and
those kinds of things -- and tying it in with one-on-one counselling
inside of the unit as well," Hickie explained.

Participants will be chosen based both on their desire to take part
and a recommendation from their case worker. Those taking part are
prisoners near the ends of their sentences. Once they are released,
officials studying the program will follow up with the former
participants to see whether it's helped.

Similar substance abuse units are planned for correctional centres in
Saskatoon and Prince Albert, Hickie said, although the addition of
those units will depend on how Regina's pilot program does.