Australian prisons are investing heavily in trying to stop drugs getting into jails when they should be more focused on root causes, the Australian National Council on Drugs says.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
As Canberra's jail introduced two new drug-detection dogs on Wednesday, council executive director Gino Vumbaca called for more funding in prisons for addiction therapy and rehabilitation programs.
''You could spend an exorbitant amount of money on reducing supply but there'd always be drugs in prisons,'' Mr Vumbaca said.
Drug testing is mandatory on admission to the Alexander Maconochie Centre, and from late 2011 to early this year 77 per cent of results indicated drug use.
''Invest in demand reduction,'' Mr Vumbaca said. ''Treat the drug use, deal with the substance misuse problems; in the long term and the medium term, it's the best return on your investment.''
Minister for Corrective Services Shane Rattenbury said the territory did invest significantly in therapeutic and rehabilitative programs, including the Solaris program at Alexander Maconochie
''The Solaris program … allows detainees with substance abuse issues to receive therapeutic counselling and support while incarcerated,'' Mr Rattenbury said.
However, as he welcomed Boone and Teddy to the K9 Unit to replace two retiring dogs, Mr Rattenbury maintained supply reduction had an important role to play at Alexander Maconochie. Illicit drugs were intercepted on 18 occasions last year, including 14 seizures by sniffer dogs.
''Every jail across the world has issues with people trying to smuggle contraband in,'' Mr Rattenbury said.
''The AMC (Alexander Maconochie Centre) takes a very serious approach to security. We've got a range of detection techniques, including physical searches and X-rays, and the dogs certainly add an extra layer that really helps us keep out as much contraband as possible.''
K9 Unit officer in charge Jeffrey Kennedy said the English springer spaniels would be trained for passive alert detection of illicit drugs and used for visitor, cell and vehicle searches.
''Drugs will get into every jail anywhere in the world,'' Mr Kennedy said. ''It's just one of those things.
''The dogs are very effective, and they're a very good visual deterrent as well … the dogs will have their day in the end.''
Mr Rattenbury also confirmed that the development application for an expansion to the Alexander Maconochie Centre had been finalised to accommodate last year's surge in prisoners, blamed for the rise in contraband smuggling at the jail.
