FOLLOWING THE FORMAL launch earlier this week of Barbados’ first Drug Treatment Court (DTC), which seeks to help offenders rather than simply jail them, Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite says the next project will be to work with those who are already in prison.
He made the disclosure yesterday at the official opening of the new headquarters of the 20-year-old National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA) at the corner of 1st Avenue, Belleville and Pine Road, St Michael.
A DTC is an innovative approach to dealing with non-violent criminal offences committed by drug-dependent offenders, conditionally directing the accused to treatment instead of jail time with the goal of managing relapses into drug addiction, reducing the risk of repeat offences, lowering prison population, and decreasing government expenditure on incarceration.
Please read the full story in today’s Saturday Sun, or in the eNATION edition.