Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regard to yesterday’s theme day when we were speaking about treatment programs throughout the Northwest Territories, I wanted to ask the Minister of Justice about some of the programs that they have in the corrections facilities.
Right off the bat, I’d like to ask the Minister of Justice what type of treatment programs specifically designated for addictions does the department provide in our correctional facilities currently.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The Minister of Justice, Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Currently, the Department of Justice, through its corrections, does support a number of on-the-land programming available for inmates within our facilities where security issues are not significant. We also support inmates attending regularly things like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.
In the last sitting, through Regular Members, we increased the budget at the South Mackenzie Correctional Facility where we have some traditional addictions counsellor positions available to provide support. Those types of services are available in our Yellowknife facility as well. There are a number of things that we are currently doing within the facilities to support inmates with addictions issues.
Speaking with the Minister of Health yesterday, and some of the answers that he gave us in terms of detox programs moving along the same lines, if anyone that gets incarcerated for a serious crime and does have to go to either a north corrections facility, are there any detox programs in place, medical services provided to the inmates that need that detox in our facilities currently?
When somebody is convicted and sentenced to time in one of our facilities, one of the first things that will happen is they’ll go through a documentation and classification where their individual needs are assessed. If an individual does require detox, we do have nursing staff within our facilities who can help develop a plan to help that individual detox. It may involve some time in isolation during the actual detox, but they do have nurses available to support them through that process.
When an inmate is about to get released, in terms of getting educated on possibly some of the issues and concerns that might have gotten them into the institution, what type of education programs do the corrections facilities offer to get inmates back, or what social skills programs does the department offer to get these inmates back into being a member of society and not going back out and becoming another repeat offender? What type of education programs are there in our facilities to get our inmates back as regular members of society?
Each one of these situations would be done on an individual basis, based on the individual needs of inmates when they’re being released. Currently, case managers and other staff within the department or within the corrections facilities will work with the inmate to identify programming in the community that they’re going to be released to that would help support them in their continued healing journey, or help them deal with probation issues that may exist. Each case is done individually. They’re targeted and linked with different programs and services that may exist in individual communities.
One of the things that we are doing right now as a department, is we have been approached by some communities to do some reintegration work and engage communities to help design reintegration plans that work for the communities, that can engage the communities. We’re exploring that right now with Colville Lake and we’re probably going to run a pilot there to see how it works. If it works really well, we will work with other communities to implement a similar type of process.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just in terms of alcohol related crimes in the Northwest Territories and people who are suffering with addictions and treatments, I was wondering if the Minister knows what the percentage of crimes throughout the Northwest Territories are actually alcohol related. Does he have a percentage that he can let the House know of?
I don’t have that exact statistic but I do have some information on this. The most frequent criminogenic needs identified amongst NWT offenders are those associated with drugs and alcohol. The vast majority of individuals who are going through their documentation and classification have indicated that alcohol is a significant factor in their lives and one of the reasons they may be within the facilities.
Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
