FACING THE REALITY OF DRUGS IN PRISONS

As In The Wider Community, Radical Solutions Are Needed.

TO GROW up in Australia at the end of the 20th century is no longer to
reach adulthood in innocent isolation.

Any parent can tell of the perils their children face, including drug
abuse.

Heroin is cheaper and more freely available on Melbourne's streets
than ever before, supplemented by an array of other substances, and
there are associated dangers that did not exist a generation ago, such
as contracting HIV or hepatitis C.

Another modern reality is that drug abuse does not stop simply because
people are locked away in correctional institutions. Greed and more
abuse have ensured that supplies of illicit drugs can be established,
and every penal institution in the country faces the problem.

No one should be shocked that a teenage boy was found to be using
drugs in the Malmsbury youth training centre, especially given that an
estimated 90per cent of the inmates have been convicted of
drug-related offences.

Everyone should, however, be appalled that he was involved in sharing
needles with other inmates when he was known by the authorities to be
HIV-positive.

There is no neat solution to the problem of drug abuse in
prison.

It cannot simply be banned in the hope that it will go away. Drug use
can be discouraged and education programs implemented, but it would be
naive to believe that these measures will halt the problem, especially
in the short term. In the meantime, prisoners and juvenile detainees
face the prospect of contracting blood-borne diseases through the use
of shared needles and other drug paraphernalia. As custodians, the
detaining authorities owe their charges a duty of care to prevent this
happening, just as much as they owe them a duty not to let them starve
to death.

There are some tough issues to be faced and, as in the wider
community, some radical steps must be taken.

Clearly there must be more rigorous efforts to ensure that drugs are
not allowed into penal facilities. But, given that some drugs will
make it into prison, their use must not be allowed to fuel a cauldron
of infection that will eventually spill into the broader community. If
this means that needle exchange programs are necessary in correctional
facilities to help prevent the spread of deadly disease, so be it.