Pubdate: Tue, 15 May 2001 Source: Age, The (Australia) Copyright: 2001 The Age Company Ltd Contact: http://www.theage.com.au/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5 Author: Bill Birnbauer DRUGS KILLING FORMER YOUTH PRISONERS Boys and young men released from Victorian juvenile justice centres are dying at rates 10 times that of the general community, a study has found. Young women released from custody had 40 times the death rate of similarly aged women in the community, although the number of deaths was low compared with males. The study's author, Dr Friederike Veit, of the Adolescent Forensic Health Service, described the mortality rates as alarming, and welfare groups yesterday called on the State Government to increase resources for young offenders coming out of custody. More than one-third of the deaths occurred within three months of release from the Melbourne Juvenile Justice Centre, the Parkville Youth Residential Centre or Malmsbury Juvenile Justice Centre. Almost 100 young people - mainly males - who had served time in juvenile justice centres or adult prisons had died between 1988 and 1999. Of the 88 deaths of young men, 40 were from drug-related causes, mainly overdoses. Four of the eight deaths of women four were drug-related. Dr Veit said the high drug-related death rates soon after release were due mainly to offenders' tolerance to heroin dropping while in custody, placing them at greater risk of overdose. Dr Veit will release her findings at the Royal Australasian College of Physicians annual conference in Sydney today. A separate study of 820 unnatural deaths of men and women released from adult prisons between 1990 and last year shows disturbingly similar trends. It found that the death rate of former prisoners was 10 times that of the community, and 30 times greater in the first year of release. The risk of dying soon after release was higher for women prisoners. Sixty per cent of the 820 deaths involved drugs, and 51 per cent were heroin-related. At least 25 per cent of all Victorian heroin-related deaths involved former prisoners. "If these unnatural deaths are to be prevented, drug-harm and other harm minimisation programs need to be available to prisoners during the period of their incarceration and following their release," the report said. In March, coroner Jacinta Heffey called for a review of services available to prisoners after examining the death of a young, drug-addicted man released from the Fulham Correctional Centre near Sale. Andrew Charles (his surname has been withheld at the family's request) was driven to the Sale railway station by a prison officer and left to fend for himself. He died the next day from a heroin overdose. Ms Heffey said: "This case is but one example of the need for the correctional system to provide comprehensive pre-release and post-release programs in all prisons, for all short and long-term prisoners." Dr Veit said: "Young people are not dying in custody, where we can reach them to provide care and support. They are dying back in the community." The three main welfare agencies providing advocacy for youths let out of juvenile justice centres say they do not have resources to meet demand. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens