BID TO CUT DRUG CRIME

A MAJOR strategy has been launched by the government and prisons to deal
with Indochinese drug-related crime.

The strategy has been prompted by dramatically high imprisonment rates,
particularly among Vietnamese Australians.

Vietnamese Australians make up 8 per cent of Victorian juvenile offenders
and more than 6per cent of male adult prisoners are Vietnamese-born - up
from 3.9 per cent in 1995-96.

Vietnamese-born Australians comprise 1.3 per cent of the overall population.

Police figures show Indochinese arrest rates are also high, with more than
8 per cent of drug-related arrests involving Vietnamese-born people in
1996-97.

The Office of the Correctional Services Commissioner and RMIT University
have launched separate studies into Indochinese prisoner issues.

A spokesman for Corrections Minister Bill McGrath said the government was
looking at ways to manage the rise in Indochinese imprisonment, including
integration.

Indochinese prisoners will receive English classes to improve the extremely
poor literacy levels among some inmates. The classes will combine with
other programs outside the prison system to help former inmates return to
society.

Port Phillip Prison programs manager Klaus Walden-Baur said Victorian jail
administrators were preparing submissions on drug rehabilitation programs
for Indochinese prisoners.

He said the prisoners often had no access to existing programs because of
poor English skills.

This made it hard for them to change their drug user classification and
earn the right to contact visits.

A Uniting Church drug treatment centre, Moreland Hall, set up a pilot
program last year for Vietnamese-born prisoners in Port Phillip.

The centre has commissioned RMIT's language and international studies
department to report on drug rehabilitation options.

Moreland Hall social worker Rob Crickett said Vietnamese inmates tended to
stick together.

Mr Crickett said the shame of incarceration was especially felt by Asian
inmates, and many hid their plight from families.

One Vietnamese prisoner told him: "I can come out of jail, can completely
renounce drugs and crime, I can pay back every debt, I can do extremely
well in business, can have kids and put them through university and I will
still not get the shame lifted off my family."

Vietnamese community social worker Anh Tran said it was important for her
community to face drug problems openly.

Ms Tran runs Face It - a $136,000 drug education and awareness program.

She called on governments to provide more Vietnamese-speaking welfare workers.