Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Jul 27/98) - Dax Machmer's life has a new sense of purpose.

After finding himself in the Baffin Correctional Centre with a crime-ridden past and a bleak future, the 23-year- old former resident of Pangnirtung made some positive changes.

First off, he signed up for the computer specialist program at Iqaluit's Nunavut Arctic College and moved out of BCC into Uttaqivik, the correctional centre's Inuit-run halfway house. The end result Machmer says, is a huge leap in his self-confidence and self-respect and a shot at a better life.

"If I never went to school, I'd probably have the same lifestyle as before. Mostly being high and selling drugs and doing anything for a profit," says Machmer, who has since graduated from Arctic College and is scheduled to be released from Uttaqivik in early August.

Now a casual employee at the office of the interim commissioner, Machmer plans to seek more computer training and full-time employment in his field after his release.

"I'd rather not be here but it's better than BCC. There's a lot more support here and it gives me time to think about what I'm going to do."

Corrections manager Doug Strader says the key to Machmer's success lies in offering programs -- like Uttaqivik -- that rehabilitate inmates in a culturally appropriate environment.

"Anything that we can do that promotes healing is successful. That's our main focus here in the Eastern Arctic, to try and develop programs that will be a stimulus to promote a healthy lifestyle," says Strader.

He explains that Uttaqivik is particularly effective because it allows the inmates to seek out employment skills and education thereby reducing the rate at which inmates return to prison.

"Economics and unemployment are very high contributors to jail. People will do things to survive," says Strader.

Uttaqivik contractor Iga Kownirk says a great deal of her time is spent talking to her clients and helping them solve their problems.

"I talk to them and tell them you can still change your life. I try and convince them not to do bad things when they get out," says Kownirk, who has worked at Uttaqivik since the beginning of April.

She adds that she takes the men out on hunting and fishing trips when they're not working or in school and she also arranges volunteer work so they can give something back to the community.

Because so many of BCC's inmates are waiting to be screened for entry into Uttaqavak, alternative programs have been developed including Inuit healing sessions, outpost camps and young offender homes.

Strader says they have seen a reduction in the recidivism rate since they've been running the programs and that his next step is to figure out a way to offer counselling once the inmates return to their home communities.

"You can run all the programs you want but if you don't follow up in the community, you're dead ... that's what we're trying to do."