Pubdate: Wed, 16 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 HELPING HAND AFTER DOING TIME URGED The State Government was more interested in opening new prison beds than in assisting young offenders just released from custody, one of Victoria's top drug experts said yesterday. The executive director of the Youth Substance Abuse Service, David Murray, said that when youths were released from custody they were often alone or had insufficient support. They frequently drifted back to a drug subculture or to people they had met inside. "Until very recently there's been no focus or increase in any type of resources to post-release support to young people getting out of these places," he said. Mr Murray said the State Government was "philosophically interested" in the issue, but was not prepared to commit "huge buckets of money" to it, unlike its decision to build new prison beds. But Community Services Minister Christine Campbell said last night that high death rates of young people after release from juvenile justice centres was a challenge for the whole community. The young men and women involved were at the extreme end of risk for premature death, with drug problems, unemployment, risky behavior, and few ties to help them. "They have lost their freedom, they might have lost their family, they might have lost their job," she said. "Without self-esteem there is very little reason to keep living." Mentoring, employment and education and training programs needed to work effectively for their self-esteem to be restored. Ms Campbell defended the government's funding of post-release services, saying an extra $4 million a year had been provided to an area that had been woefully neglected by the Kennett government. The Agereported yesterday that a study by the Adolescent Forensic Health Service had found that young men released from juvenile justice centres had death rates 10 times that of the general community, and that young female offenders were dying 40 times more often than women in the community. One-third of the deaths occurred soon after release, and were the result mainly of drug use and suicides. Opposition community services spokeswoman Lorraine Elliott said drug treatment programs in juvenile justice centres needed to be intensified and better resourced. Planning for release of offenders and links with service providers also needed to be improved, as did funding. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager