Government under fire for jailing drunk, stoned teens

Manitoba's ombudsman and opposition politiciansare calling on the provincial government to find a new place to sendintoxicated teenagers who are picked up by police.

It's not a crime to be drunk or stoned in public in Manitoba, although the Intoxicated Persons Detention Act allows police to temporarily detain peoplewho are found to beunder the influence.

In 2006, 144 teens were picked up under the act and detained at the Manitoba Youth Centre, up 25 per cent from the previous year.The centre is the province's largest youth correctional facility, housing about 160 minors charged as young offenders.

Provincial ombudsman Irene Hamilton says the practice of holding intoxicated youth incorrections facilitieshas been going on since the 1970s, and it's unacceptable.

"They're not charged with a criminal offence, and a correctional centre is not an appropriate place for them to be," she said.

"They should be in a facilty that provides them with an environment where they can go through the detoxification process safely but not be in an incarceral situation, which is where they are right now."

Kids' facility needed: critics

Hamilton isn't alone in her criticism. Conservative justice critic Kelvin Goertzen says the NDP government should create a facility specifically for kids picked up for public intoxication.

The government is short-sighted in ignoring early indications of substance abuse, he said.

"Putting them into the youth centre with staff that are already overworked… they're really just warehousing them for a short period of time," he said.

"The whole issue of addiction has been lost on this government for the last number of years and I think when you talk about root causes of crime, the most significant root cause of crime is addiction."

Liberal leader Jon Gerrard said the situation was a sad example of"this government using the justice system to treat health care and social problems."

Hamilton wonders why some of the children picked up for public intoxication can't be sent to a five-bed secure drug stabilization facility for youth that opened in November. That facility dealswith minors whose parents had obtained a court order under a new law to force their children to get treatment for drug addictions.

"There might have been an opportunity there to also consider whether there could be some beds made available for the purposes of the detoxification for intoxicated youth at the same time," she said.

But provincial officials say the beds at the new centre are only for kids under court order.

Facility would have six-figure price tag

Healthy Living Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross says putting a kid in a cell means taking care of first things first.

"The intoxicated youth that gets picked up by the police may have an addiction problem, but the issue for that moment is safety," she said.

The Manitoba Youth Centre is able to provide services the intoxicated youth require, such asround-the-clock supervision and the availability of medical care or intervention if they become dangers to themselves or others,provincial officials said.

But thegovernment is working to find an alternative to the youth centre, said Irvin-Ross.

"There's a commitment for government to look at an alternative placement to make sure that intoxicated youth are safely supervised, and we'll continue to pursue that," she said.

One of the ideas being considered involves finding a community group to establish a facility similar to the Main Street Project in Winnipeg, which deals with more than 7,000 intoxicated adults per year.

The organization's emergency shelter, detox centre and drunk tank receive funding from municipal, provincial and federal governments as well asthe United Way and other charitabledonations.

Past proposals were expensive

John Borody of the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba says past proposals estimated it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to set up a similar facility for young people.

"We don't have the numbers to justify… putting a proper program in place," he said. "So although the existing site may not be appropriate, it's probably the safest environment for them right now."

However, some intoxicated youth who are picked up by police don't even see the relative safety of the Manitoba Youth Centre.

There's a limit of two intoxicated youth at any one time at the centre. On busy nights when more than two are picked up, Winnipeg Policehold the others at local police stations, government officials said.

Force officials admit they do not have the facilities offered at the youth centre, but say they do monitor those teens regularly.

No one keeps track of the number of intoxicated youth held at police stations.