REHABILITATION UNIT OPENED

Almost 90 per cent of prisoners have a drug or alcohol problem that may
cause them to reoffend when they are released, says Minister of Corrections
Matt Robson.

At the opening of an alcohol and drug unit at Rolleston Prison yesterday, Mr
Robson said the justice system needed to deal with the 89.4 per cent of
prisoners who were addicted to drugs or alcohol.

"Unless we deal with this head-on, these offenders will continue to
reoffend. It doesn't matter how good our rehabilitation programmes are."

The new Kowhai Unit is New Zealand's second medium-security unit for inmates
with serious drug and alcohol abuse and dependency problems. The 60-bed unit
aims to assist inmates to overcome drug or alcohol addiction and to lead
non-offending lives.

The inmate services manager for Canterbury prisons, Peter Johnston, said
pilot-programme statistics indicated that reconviction rates dropped from 23
per cent to 10 per cent among those in the programme.

He said the men undertaking the programme at Rolleston would probably have
an 80 per cent chance of reoffending if they had no treatment for their
alcohol and drug problems. Participation in the programme would probably
drop the rate of reoffending to between 50 and 55 per cent.

Mr Robson said research had shown that $1 million spent on such treatment
cut the reoffending rate for serious crimes 15 times more than if the same
amount was spent on longer jail sentences.

Asked how the programme fitted with the recent referendum call for longer
jail sentences, he said people must be educated on the most effective ways
to deal with offenders.