Pubdate: Tue, 07 Aug 2007
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2007, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?163 (HIV/AIDS)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?143 (Hepatitis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

WHAT THOSE NEEDLES DO

There are few votes to be had in looking out for the interests of 
prison inmates. But in light of new research, it has never been 
clearer that politicians are not just endangering criminals with 
their refusal to do so but also costing the rest of us.

Official policy is to keep illegal drugs out of jails. This is an 
admirable goal, but it does not appear to be working. Whether through 
employees or visitors, narcotics have a way of making it into 
prisons. And when inmates use them, they do so with an even higher 
risk than drug users on the outside.

According to a new study published in the Canadian Medical 
Association Journal, a 2.1-per-cent rate of HIV infection among 
Ontario adult inmates surveyed in 2003-04 was 11 times higher than 
that of the general population. Ontario prisoners' rate of infection 
with hepatitis C was 17.6 per cent, 22 times higher than on the 
outside. The results were even more alarming in Quebec, where the HIV 
rate was 19 times higher than in the general population and the rate 
of hepatitis C 23 times higher.

In the Quebec portion of the study, more than 90 per cent of those 
infected with HIV or hepatitis C reported a past history of injection 
use. Concluding that "injection drug use was by far the most 
important risk factor for both HIV and HCV infections," its authors 
recommended "harm-reduction measures" alongside prevention, disease 
testing and education. Peter Ford, a doctor and researcher who 
contributed to the Ontario study, made the outright case for needle 
exchanges. "It's not rocket science to figure out that if you clean 
up the way somebody's doing something ... then you're going to save 
people transmitting infection, particularly hepatitis," he told The 
Globe and Mail. "It's even less rocket science to figure out that if 
you actually issue clean syringes, as opposed to the one the whole 
range is sharing, you're going to get a lot less transmission of disease."

But even given the new research, government officials continue to 
reject such a program. Some suggest that funds are better spent 
elsewhere; others say the needles pose a threat because they can be 
used by inmates as weapons.

Both of these excuses are nonsense. While it is true that needles can 
be used to assault guards and other prisoners, the reality is that 
they are in jails regardless; the only question is whether they are 
clean or dirty. As for the cost, it is far more expensive to pay for 
disease treatment than it is to administer a simple needle-exchange 
program - and that doesn't even take into account the social costs. 
Those who find it hard to muster sympathy for drug-addicted criminals 
who infect each other would do well to consider that most of them are 
not in jail forever, and that when they get out many will spread 
their infections further.

Sadly, the logic is consistently lost on governments looking to score 
political points. Last December, the federal government cancelled a 
pilot program that offered tattoos to inmates to discourage them from 
getting them from other prisoners, often with dirty needles. Public 
Safety Minister Stockwell Day claimed at the time that internal 
research had shown the tattoos were "not an efficient use of taxpayer 
dollars." But the following month, Mr. Day was contradicted by a 
leaked draft copy of a Correctional Service Canada evaluation stating 
that the program had "demonstrated potential to reduce harm, reduce 
exposure to health risk, and enhance the health and safety of staff 
members, inmates and the general public."

"Our priority is to have an effective federal corrections system that 
protects Canadians," Mr. Day said when he cancelled the tattoo 
program. The government should understand that limiting the spread of 
deadly disease, be it through drug use or back-room tattooing, 
precisely fits that aim.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom