Introduction to Central Services Branch

1. Correctional Services and the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Bill Introduction to Central Services Branch Building a caring correctional system that truly belongs to all Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Social Development Date: 20 May 2008

2. INTRODUCTION UNDERSTANDING THE CORRCETIONS ENVIRONMENT The Offender The Correctional Centre The Correctional Official The Community SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND THE CORRECTIONS ENVIRONMENT INTERVENTIONS CHALLENGES CONCLUSION Outline of Presentation

3. No doubt – Substance abuse one of the major challenges facing all nations An effective and strategic attack on substance abuse requires multi-agency involvement, including education, social and health services as well as criminal justice agencies Opening of borders - International co-operation The Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Bill provides a framework for early intervention, treatment and reintegration of people who abuse or are dependent on or addicted to substances of abuse Correctional Services at end of criminal justice process – Perception that department becomes involved at late stage New direction – Two strategic pillars Promote corrections as societal responsibility Develop correctional centres into centres of rehabilitation Focus on substance abuse in Correctional Services includes both staff and offenders but presentation will focus on offenders Introduction

4. The field of corrections is specialized and requires special knowledge, skills, and an understanding of criminality Four main elements: The offender The correctional centre environment The correctional official The community Imperative to contextualize the environment in which offenders and officials function UNDERSTANDING THE CORRECTIONS ENVIRONMENT

5. Take cognizance of the culture that exists inside a correctional centre if you are going to effectively manage the care, custody, development and control of offenders and at the same time accommodate the needs of staff Good Order & Security Ensuring safety and security of staff, offenders and external role players Ensuring a safe environment for interventions to take place UNDERSTANDING THE CORRECTIONS ENVIRONMENT

6. Stripped of support through embarrassment and dispossession because they have to submit to the processes aimed at managing their daily lives Pains of imprisonment: Loss of liberty Deprivation of goods and services Deprivation of heterosexual relationships Deprivation of autonomy Deprivation of security The judicial process officially labels individuals as criminals and defines them as being particular kinds of persons. This label largely overrides their status as parents, neighbours, friends or workers THE OFFENDER

7. A world where friends cannot be chosen, physical conditions painfully basic, institutions normally overcrowded Separated from everything familiar, including social support and loved ones Feeling of hopelessness Being locked up into a cell and being entirely dependent on someone else opening that door, has a very profound psychological impact The strongest survive - manipulation THE CORRECTIONAL CENTRE ENVIRONMENT

8. Dichotomy of custodial and “treatment” staff Sometimes custodial vs treatment staff Separation among treatment staff – professional training brought into secondary setting In the past – emphasis on safe custody Rehabilitation process demands multi-disciplinary approach Currently emphasis in Correctional Services is placed on equipping correctional officials to understand their role in the rehabilitation process THE CORRECTIONAL OFFICIAL

9. Offenders are not from some distant planet – they are from communities in South Africa Sociologists normally identify the following socializing agents responsible for inculcating societal values and morals: The family (the basic social institution) Education The economy Religion The justice system Civil Society Sport and recreation Communities thus have an important role to play in the development of offenders THE COMMUNITY

10. Research in South Africa has shown a high positive correlation between drug use and crime (Medical Research Council / Institute for Security Studies) 3-Metro Arrestee Study (Gauteng / Cape Town / Durban) Offenders enter the corrections system in different ways Offences directly drug-related (possession / trafficking / dealing) Offences committed to finance a drug habit (burglary / theft / robbery) SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND THE CORRECTIONS ENVIRONMENT

11. The Department of Correctional Services is entrusted with the responsibility of detaining offenders, supervising community corrections sentences and parole in conditions that are consistent with human dignity and correcting their offending behaviour This responsibility, which is a statutory mandate of the Department, needs to be carried out in a manner that is integrated and coordinated and which ultimately results in the attainment of best results in the most efficient and effective way SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND THE CORRECTIONS ENVIRONMENT

12. The White Paper on Corrections (2005) introduces a new chapter in the treatment of offenders – rehabilitation at the centre The Offender Rehabilitation Path (ORP) translates aspects of the White Paper into practical actions, viz. Admission (Sentenced Offenders) Assessment (Leads to Correctional Sentence Plan) Admission to Housing Unit Interventions (Multi-disciplinary approach) Monitoring and Evaluation Placement Pre-release Placement out of Correctional Centre (Parolees) Admission of Probationers Ensure offenders’ needs are addressed while protecting public safety SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND THE CORRECTIONS ENVIRONMENT

13. Some initiatives regarding demand reduction, prevention and treatment: National Protection Plan & Escape Prevention Plan Installation of advanced security equipment at correctional centres to improve access control Utilizing the policy on the management of persons suffering from substance and alcohol abuse and addiction that has been developed by the Department of Health Research into matters relating to substance abuse prioritized on the research agenda of the Department Departmental efforts relating to addressing substance abuse consolidated in the Mini Drug Master Plan of the Department INTERVENTIONS

14. Collaboration with NGO’s / FBO’s / CBO’s in delivering programmes that address the need of offenders with regard to substance abuse: Khulisa Rehabilitation / In-Prison Peer Drug Counselling Programme South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (SANCA) AHANANG (Let’s Work Together) Prison Project The President’s Award Programme Stop-to-Start : Correctional Programme addressing alcohol and substance abuse (In-house) Pre-Release Substance Abuse Programme covering substance abuse and relapse prevention (In-house) AA (Alcoholic Anonymous) and CAD (Christelike Alkoholiste Diens) Spiritual workers conducting bible studies on dependency INTERVENTIONS

15. Drug offenders will continue to pose many challenges for correctional authorities. It is not easy to discern the most likely future trends and challenges, but some of them appear to be as follows: Greater focus on programmes specific to the needs of the individual offender through integrated offender management and careful assessment Drug-specific facilities in the form of specialist rehabilitation units within existing correctional centres Ensuring “quality control” in the delivery of programmes Program accreditation and benchmarking After Care CHALLENGES

16. Close communication between Corrections / Education / Social Development and Public Health to ensure continuity of services necessary for ex-offenders to sustain positive behaviours More detailed evaluations of the success (or otherwise) of different forms of treatment There is a need to recognize the needs of offenders from diverse cultural environments A management information system to be established and used within and across the criminal justice and treatment systems to ensure the appropriate delivery of services, the effective utilization of resources and to collect data for evaluation and research Specific attention to male and female and youth and adult offender needs CHALLENGES

17. Section 4 of the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Bill refers to development of and compliance to minimum norms & standards which implies that the present drug units operating within centres in the Department of Correctional Services will have to apply for registration as public treatment centres Section 28 stipulates that the Department of Health must provide detoxification services and health requirements to voluntary service users to a treatment centre. Implication for DCS in the event of registration of public treatment centres? CHALLENGES

18. Section 36 deals with temporary custody of persons pending enquiry or removal from treatment centre. The implication for DCS in this instance is that persons placed in the care of DCS as in the case of J38 needs to be referred expediently and policy procedures need to be formulated in this regard CHALLENGES

19. Correctional Services focus in terms of addressing issues relating to substance use and abuse at all levels of prevention and treatment - from primary (for those who do not use) to secondary (for those who are using with negative consequences) to tertiary (for those requiring treatment) Correctional Services combines the focus on substance abuse as a health issue as well as an enforcement issue CONCLUSION

20. THANK YOU Renewing our Pledge: A National Partnership to Correct, Rehabilitate and Reintegrate Offenders for a safer and secure South Africa