Ian Mulgrew: An addict's choice: The path not taken
Credit to Author: Ian Mulgrew| Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2019 22:56:41 +0000
A recent Kamloops sentencing underscored what a revolving door our prisons are — filled with damaged people with addictions, who emerge neither clean nor with the skills to survive straight, only to return.
At 35 years old, Dustin Dale Braaten has spent most of his life in jail — in total, 17 years.
Braaten has amassed some 49 adult convictions since 2002, with no real breaks in between: nine for break-and-enter offences, one for robbery, 11 for theft under $5,000, and nine for possession of stolen property.
There are other unrelated offences, including breaches of probation.
Yet five days after he was last released just before Christmas he was brazenly burglarizing homes in broad daylight while people were at work.
What a guy.
He ruined the holiday season for families, left their homes in shambles, and was too stupid to avoid being captured on security footage that was later posted to social media.
His father turned him in.
To his scant credit, Braaten pleaded guilty and returned some of the less-valuable goods he hadn’t been able to fence.
If you hang around the courts, his life is a cliché.
In 2007, he was profiled in his hometown newspaper, Kamloops This Week, as the protagonist of a morality play: “A Tale of Addiction and The Path to Redemption.”
Already a chronic criminal, at 23 he was sure he could change. But he still hasn’t found his way.
Born in Clearwater, Braaten moved to Kamloops with his mother and three other siblings when he was 10. He blamed his father for his own dysfunction, claiming he and his mother were abused.
Since being expelled from school in Grade 10, however, Braaten’s thirst for speed, amphetamines and heroin has never been slaked despite two separate attempts at treatment and nearly two decades of imprisonment.
Braaten is “institutionalized” and came out every time as hooked as he went in.
There were no supports — either inside the institutional walls or outside of them — to help him acquire the skills and self-confidence to survive and cope.
On Aug. 30, 2018, his statutory release date, Braaten was paroled to a Chilliwack halfway house to participate in a residential treatment program.
That program was suspended on Nov. 15 and he was returned to jail to complete his sentence before being finally released on Dec. 15.
He immediately returned to his old habits — drugs and crime.
Braaten is far from unique.
The “National Prevalence of Mental Disorders Among Incoming Federally-Sentenced Men” report in 2015 said 44.1 per cent of inmates have antisocial personality disorder, 15.9 per cent have borderline personality disorder, 29.5 per cent suffer from anxiety disorders, and 3.3 per cent are classified as “primary psychotic.”
Addicted offenders are so common that federal institutions operate needle-exchange programs. This summer they were opening a safe-injection site.
The reason? It saves money. HIV is a lifetime of bills for taxpayers, treatment for Hep C an estimated $80,000.
Boredom, the lack of training programs and educational opportunity only exacerbate drug use.
Addiction and imprisonment have become a toxic combination in our prisons contributing to chronic overcrowding of institutions, making prisons dangerous, inhumane places for both inmates and staff.
Assaults in B.C. prisons reached an all-time high last year because they have become so overcrowded and understaffed with officer-to-inmate ratios often well above one-to-20.
In the U.K., which faces similar problems, they have been looking at Norway, which in the 1990s transformed the ethos of its Correctional Service. Instead of focusing on punishment, it emphasized rehabilitation.
The Scandinavian country spends much more, roughly $160,000 a year on average per inmate, compared with the U.K. or the Canadian average of $115,000 (about $67,000 in provincial jails).
Prisoners in Norway were offered a broad range of programs, and the role of the guards was completely overhauled: Their ratio is one-to-three.
The country now boasts a 20 per cent recidivism rate — which is hard to compare given the data is so flawed, but that is thought to be about twice or better than what either the U.K. or Canada is achieving.
Braaten was recently sentenced to four years imprisonment less 291 days of pre-sentence credit — another three-plus years in a system that has failed completely to help him figure out how to live in society.
“I wish you well, Mr. Braaten,” said B.C. Supreme Court Justice Gary Weatherill without irony.
“Use your time as best you can to work on your addiction and, hopefully, next time you are discharged from incarceration you will be able to become a contributing member of society.”
Yeah, if he wins the lottery.
Maybe we should be discussing Norway’s approach. Ours isn’t working.
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