METHADONE PLAN FOR JAIL ADDICTS

Victoria's heroin-addicted prisoners could be offered a methadone treatment
program under a State Government plan devised to cut recidivism among drug
offenders.

Other programs, such as rapid detoxification, have not been ruled out.

Sixty-five per cent of prisoners are serving sentences for drug-related crime.

The Minister for Corrections, Mr Andre Haermeyer, said yesterday the
Government hoped to curb drug addiction, and therefore crime, by offering
the treatment program state-wide.

The Corrections Commissioner, Ms Penny Armytage, is expected to report to
the Government within two months on options for a trial of the program,
which could start this year. If successful it will be introduced to all
state prisons.

The methadone idea has been around for years. It was one of the
recommendations of the Premier's Drugs Advisory Council, led by Dr David
Penington when the Kennett Government was in office.

Mr Haermeyer said costings were yet to be done because the extent of the
trial, and the number of addicts who volunteered to go on the program, was
not known.

But any taxpayer funding would be offset by a drop in crime and less cash
required for the health services addicts use, he said. Less prisoner demand
for heroin would also mean fewer jail security breaches. Prisoners taking
methadone as a heroin replacement would be less volatile than those without
the drug or a substitute.

Mr Haermeyer said he would prefer that the trial took place at a jail such
as Fulham or Loddon, where the prison population was more mainstream and
many inmates were repeat offenders.

Ms Armytage has been asked to compile a strict set of criteria that would
ensure "that we don't have people going on to methadone simply because it's
a good way to pass time in prison", Mr Haermeyer said.

It was imperative that programs were in place outside prisons so that, once
released, prisoners on the methadone program would have a continuing
support network, he said.

The Opposition spokesman on corrections, Mr Peter Ryan, said he did not
object to the principle of the trial, but said he would prefer a system
where judges could send drug offenders to prisons able to concentrate on
addicts' rehabilitation needs.

Mr Haermeyer, asked about rapid detoxification and other rehabilitation
options, said anything with the potential of combating the drugs scourge
would be considered.