“Our government has a zero-tolerance policy for drugs in our institutions.” This comment comes from Canada’s Public Security Minister Vic Toews, responding the 2012 Federal lawsuit filed by four HIV groups and a former Canadian Correction inmate seeking a supervisory injunction – a court order that would force Ottawa to establish Canadian prison-based syringe access programs (PSAPs).
You may be asking yourself: “Drugs are illegal and prisons are drug-free, so why would we give inmates needles to commit a crime?”
The reality is prisons are not drug-free and needle-free; never have been, never will be.
Contrary to the assumption that prisons are a highly restricted, secure environment, virtually no prison in the world has been able to keep drugs completely out. Needles are easily smuggled in or can be made from various items already in prisons (see example here). These needles are shared, often for a fee, between anywhere from 10 to 20 inmates.
Roughly 80 percent of inmates arrive with substance use problems and incarceration has absolutely no effect on reducing injection drug use. The Correctional Service of Canada itself admitted that 17 percent of male and 14 percent of female inmates reported injecting drugs while in prison – 60 percent of the time with a used syringe.
The danger here is that our prisons have become hot spots for HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission. To begin with, HIV and HCV prevalence rates in prisons are at least 10 and 30 times higher than the population as a whole. A Vancouver study estimated 21 percent of all HIV infections among people in Vancouver who inject drugs were acquired in prison.
In the face of our government’s “zero tolerance” policies, Canada has acknowledged that drug use does exist in its institutions. Currently, bleach kits, which inmates can use to sterilize syringes, are available upon request. Advocates for PSAPs see bleach kit programs as a step in the right direction. But these programs have also come under scrutiny. Research shows inmates report limited access to such programs, particularly because they come with increased surveillance and stigmatization from correctional officers.
In addition to principles based on prohibition, the reason the Correctional Service of Canada has not moved forward with PSAPs is because of the concern that inmates may turn syringes on officers and use them as weapons. What is the evidence behind this?
In the 60 PSAPs across 12 countries introduced since 1992, there have been no reports of needles from PSAPs being used as weapons. Rather, evidence shows:
- Reduced needle sharing
- Reduced needle pricks
- Decreased HIV and HCV transmission (also safer for officers if they do get pricked)
- No increase in drug use or injecting
- Reduced drug overdoses
- Increased referrals to drug treatment programs
- Effectiveness in a wide range of institutions
Despite this compelling evidence, PSAPs remain a tough sell in Canada. One possible reason why prison health has not been prioritized by the public may be due to a misconception that people stay in prison forever. But prisoners (including those who have contracted HIV and HCV) do not stay behind bars forever. Over 95 percent of people are eventually released back into the community. They are our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. They are part of our communities – making prison health a vital component of public health.
Ignoring this fact not only harms public health more broadly, but, by definition, also violates human rights. HIV advocacy groups argue many rights are violated by refusing PSAPs, including the right to the highest attainable standard of health.
If not evidence, what will it take to introduce true public health and human right standards for Canadians behind bars?
Author: Alissa Greer, Research Project Coordinator at Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center
*Please note that the material presented here does not necessarily imply endorsement or agreement by individuals at the Centre for Addictions Research of BC