Prisoners missing drug rehab

The Government department that looks after prisons has put just 65 inmates into its specialist drug treatment units in seven months, making it unlikely it will reach its already low target, says National.

The Office of the Ombudsmen last year conducted a special investigation into Corrections' practices and was particularly scathing about the lack of rehabilitation programmes available.

"We find it extraordinary that the department is to allocate only 174 places to prisoners on residential drug abuse programmes," their report said.

National law and order spokesman Simon Power used parliamentary questions to ask how many inmates had been placed in specialist drug units this year.

Corrections Minister Damien O'Connor said 65 had done so. The number in the units had declined because of the closure of a Rolleston Prison unit midway through last year.

There were concerns about the quality of the programme and options for re-allocation of funds were now being considered.

Mr Power said the figures were disgraceful, considering about 83 per cent of the 7500-strong inmate population had drug or alcohol problems.

"At this rate, they will be lucky to put through 120 people a year - way short of Corrections' target of 174, which was slammed by the Ombudsmen."

Other figures released by Mr O'Connor show just 145 inmates were in a unit in the 04/05 year, compared with 242 the previous year.