A CHOICE OF JAIL OR DETOX

Nanaimo RCMP Try An Innovative Way To Help Prostitutes Get Off The Streets

SINCE September 19, prostitutes arrested by Nanaimo RCMP have been offered
a choice: voluntarily enter a seven-day detox program to kick a cocaine or
heroin habit (often both), or go to jail. And while the program, a first in
Canada, has not been operating very long, the Mounties already have at
least one positive success story to offer.

The first woman to complete the treatment is 29 now. She has a serious drug
addiction and has been a prostitute since age12. When she was arrested in
late September, she was offered a break. If she entered the program and
gave it her full effort, police promised to stay the charges against her.

The program was the brainchild of Constable Shawna Baher. The soft-spoken,
recently married officer came up with the idea because she felt other
methods were only putting a band-aid on the problem. "We were not getting
to the root problem of prostitution in Nanaimo, which is drug addictions,"
she says. "We don't have pimps here; we have cocaine- and heroin-addicted
girls who prostitute to get money to buy drugs." Until now, girls working
in the sex trade have been arrested, thrown in jail or fined, and within
days they are back on the streets, still with an out-of-control drug habit
to feed.

It was Const. Baher who went into the woman 's jail cell and made her an
offer: detox instead of jail time. The woman agreed. "She went through the
program, and she liked it so much that she wants to go into a long-term
treatment program," the constable notes happily. "She wants more help."

Women accepting the offer must phone the detox centre twice a day until a
bed is available, take the first bed open (there are only about 10 beds
available in the centre, which houses both men and women) and complete the
full seven days of the program. Const. Baher phones all the girls who
accept the detox program on a daily basis, "just in case they need
motivation to stay there." The crown prosecutor's office is co-operating
fully with the RCMP.

The program is still in its development, and there are hurdles to overcome.
Some girls will not do the program; others cannot stick with it. "The first
girl we put through the program went to detox but couldn't handle it," says
Const. Baher. "She ran out the door. We had to breach her release, and she
ended up in jail for 45 days."

Nanaimo Mounties also regularly send out "john letters." When a man is
stopped by police in the downtown hooker stroll--even if he is not
arrested--a letter is sent to the registered owner of the car (oftentimes,
an unsuspecting wife). The letter informs the vehicle's owner that the car
was seen on a certain date on a particular street, and a known prostitute
was seen getting into the car.

Nanaimo police also run a restorative justice program for men who patronize
prostitutes. When men are arrested on prostitution-related charges, they
are offered a sentencing circle of sorts, with members of the community,
residents living near the hooker stroll, and an ex-prostitute. The
committee establishes a punishment for the john, and he is required to make
a $500 donation which goes to the detox program helping the prostitutes. So
far, of the six johns arrested in September, five have indicated a
willingness to go through the alternative sentencing program and escape a
court-imposed punishment.

Says Const. Baher, "As one guy told me, the $500 donation is cheaper than a
lawyer."