DRUGS, INTIMIDATION AT YOUTH CENTRE

One of Victoria's biggest juvenile justice centres has major drug problems,
with some inmates forced to act as drug couriers while others smoke
marijuana with impunity, an independent review has found.

A report into the operations of the Malmsbury Juvenile Justice Centre,
commissioned by Community Services Minister Christine Campbell, found there
was a "culture of intimidation".

The report, by juvenile justice expert Graeme Baird, substantiated
allegations made in May that some inmates allowed unsupervised leave were
made to act as drug couriers.

Mr Baird also found that some staff, unable to stand up to intimidation
from inmates, "turn a blind eye to marijuana smoking".

But he said claims that inmate reports were "sanitised" to ensure
troublemakers left the centre had not been proved. Allegations that inmates
escaped punishment for smashing property or breaching leave conditions were
also unsubstantiated.

Releasing the report yesterday, Ms Campbell said that she had ordered
changes to the operations of the government-owned centre as a result of the
review. "I am appalled to learn that an atmosphere of intimidation and
drug-taking persists inside the centre," she said.

"Fear and violence have no place in our juvenile justice centres.

"The majority of young offenders in custody at Malsmbury have a
long-standing pattern of substance abuse and drug-related offences, and it
is therefore a complex and challenging task to rehabilitate them."

The report said the culture of intimidation and drug use had arisen because
of a "lessening of staff control and an increase in clients with drug
problems".

It recommended that the centre develop management plans for difficult
inmates, tighten leave administration, train staff to prevent and deal with
assaults, review education programs, increase senior staff presence after
hours and tighten search procedures and other measures to prevent drug use.

Ms Campbell said extra resources had already been made available.

But opposition community services spokeswoman Lorraine Elliott said "quite
dramatic changes" had to be made at Malmsbury.

Ms Elliott said there were many good aspects to the centre but it was
struggling to combat a difficult problem.

Ms Elliott also attacked the timing of the Baird report's release. "It is
not good enough to release it when the attention of most will be distracted
by the Olympics," she said.