Page 5964 - Week 14 - Thursday, 8 December 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
integrated through-care system designed to encourage and promote re-integration and post-release support of participants, and to facilitate the provision of health services and provide a holistic treatment approach.
Detainees can self-refer to the therapeutic community or are actively case-managed into the program. The criteria for admission include being sentenced, being of a medium or minimum security classification, having no court appeal matters running, having no history of sexual related offences and having a stable drug treatment medication regime.
Under the guidance of the Solaris management team, residents within the community assume increasing levels of responsibility for coordinating the daily activities of the unit. In this way, residents are introduced to the concepts of community and self-responsibility and thus learn what it means to participate in a civic community. The therapeutic community is located in the sentenced male accommodation of the AMC in one of four stand-alone cottages that can accommodate 20 men individually in four fully self-contained areas, including living, dining, kitchen, bathroom and laundry areas.
Program managers from ACT Corrective Services and Karralika collectively oversee the operational arrangements of the therapeutic community. Staff also include alcohol and other drug training therapeutic case workers and correctional officers who operate in an extended role combining correctional, therapeutic and social roles in the performance of their duties. As at December 2011, 34 detainees have graduated from this program since its inception in 2009.
MR SPEAKER: Supplementary, Ms Porter.
MS PORTER: Minister, have there been any improvements to the program, and how have these been received by detainees at the AMC?
DR BOURKE: ACT Corrective Services found that with the relatively short average sentences experienced by AMC detainees, the program needed to be modified to better suit the needs of the detainees. The program has been condensed in the 2011-12 financial year from a six-month program to a four-month program with the same goals in a more intensive learning environment. This gives detainees a better opportunity to complete the program before they are released from the AMC. This has already resulted in improved access to the program. As at 6 December 2011, there were 17 detainees participating in the program.
MR HANSON: Supplementary, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Minister, is the current level of drugs and needles being smuggled into the AMC acceptable?
DR BOURKE: I thank Mr Hanson for his question. No level of drugs smuggled in is acceptable.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video