FILLING OUR JAILS WITH JUNKIES IS OF NO HELP TO ANY OF US

FEDI El Hajje has never been famous, talented, or rich. He is just
another everyday loser who steals from everyday folk in order to feed
his everyday addiction.

Consequently, there is no forgiving him his flaws, no slack cut, no
public sympathy.

We might easily ignore the likes of Fedi El Hajje, bar a number of
unpalatable facts.

He could easily be our brother, father, husband, son, or
friend.

Our prisons are two-thirds filled with people just like him, convicted
of drug-related crimes.

And every single one is costing taxpayers $190 a day to keep locked
up.

Add to this the shocking fact that our prison population has exploded
by 50 per cent in the past decade and we might begin to understand the
growing social problem of drug addiction in our own
communities.

It's time for a dramatic rethink about how we deal with the likes of
Fedi El Hajje.

The Court of Appeal has done just that, and with all due respect to
the three learned judges who have just thrown Fedi El Hajje back in
the nick, I think they've got it dead wrong.

Declaring it to be a matter of first importance to the administration
of criminal justice in Victoria, the Court of Appeal overturned El
Hajje's wholly suspended three-year sentence for his latest bout of
housebreaking and replaced it with a three-year minimum sentence.

In doing so, the judges took the opportunity to state their view that
our courts are being too soft on criminals who break into people's
houses, pointing out that the average sentence in Victoria for
aggravated burglaries - which are burglaries committed while people
are in the house - falls far short of the maximum penalty of 25 years.

From 2003 to 2008, the median custodial sentence ranged from 1 1/2
years to 2 1/2 years.

This is just not good enough, according to Justices Chris Maxwell,
Frank Vincent and Paul Coghlan, who correctly point out that the
prevalence of burglary and home invasion-style offences is causing
great public disquiet.

But is locking junkies up for years on end the answer?

The Smart Justice campaign, co-ordinated by the Federation of
Community Legal Centres, points out that there is absolutely no
evidence that the risk of imprisonment deters people from using
illicit drugs.

Furthermore, our jails are full of illicit drugs and many prisoners
continue to use while inside.

The campaign is pushing for a greater focus on treatment rather than
on chest-thumping rhetoric.

Research shows that in the US, every $1 spent on drug and alcohol
treatment saves the public $7 through a reduction in crime and in the
need for medical care.

In the UK, it's been shown that for every pound stg. 1 invested in
treatment, pound stg. 3-pound stg. 18 are saved in criminal justice
and social costs.

Yet in Victoria, the Government spends almost twice as much on locking
up 2000 addicts than it does on helping to treat the 26,000 Victorians
who seek treatment every year.

Fedi El Hajje started using heroin when he was 18 and moved on to
using methamphetamine, commonly known as ice. It's an insidious drug,
and withdrawal is notoriously difficult.

The Court of Appeal noted that El Hajje has spent nearly all his adult
life in jail because of multiple convictions for theft and burglary.
His crimes have not involved physical violence.

Bizarrely enough, in my view, the Court of Appeal stated "unless he
does something about his addiction, it seems highly likely that he
will continue to offend in the same way".

So you lock him up yet again?

El Hajje has made concerted attempts to get off drugs. His last lapse
came when he'd been attending a detox program at St Vincent's, but
found himself unable to have a prescription for buprenomorphine filled
one weekend and consequently relapsed.

The County Court judge who wanted to give him a chance, and whose
sentence was overturned, regarded El Hajje as being let down by the
system.

In contrast, the Court of Appeal found El Hajje "let himself down by
his inability to abstain from drugs, even for a weekend".

Even for a weekend!

These words chill me, demonstrating what seems a dangerous ignorance
about the nature of drug addiction.

I'd like to see how anyone might cope with medically unassisted
withdrawal from an addiction to ice.