The Wandoo Prison’s rehabilitation program has graduated eight women prisoners.
They join 141 other women who have completed the program at the State’s ground-breaking alcohol and other drug treatment prison.
Wandoo’s dedicated therapeutic environment helps women prisoners to break the cycle of substance abuse in an effort to reduce addiction-driven offending.
Women who have completed the program are linked with specialist service providers to continue their rehabilitative recovery when they are released into the community.
Minister for Corrective Services, Francis Logan said many of the women who had completed the program had been able to successfully adhere to their parole conditions on release and had no further contact with the justice system.
“Targeting addiction and breaking the cycle of crime makes our community safer and helps turn offenders’ lives around,” Mr Logan said.
“We now have nearly 150 women who have taken major steps in breaking their drug addictions and are working to become productive members of society.”
He said the co-ordinated services and programs that treated the underlying cause of offending was not only effective, it benefitted the wider community by reducing drug-related crimes.
“This ground-breaking facility continues to celebrate successes and I am sure it will continue to achieve such remarkable results in 2021,” Mr Logan said.