INQUEST FOCUSES ON NEEDLE PROGRAM

Dirty Syringe May Have Led To Inmate's Death

A coroner's inquest into the death of an inmate at Kingston
Penitentiary has revisited the notion of a national needle-exchange
program in Canadian prisons.

Chris Olinskie died Jan. 7, 2006, from an infection in his blood
believed to have been caused by a dirty needle. A known intravenous
drug user, he was found lying face down and unresponsive in his cell
10 days prior to his death.

The 30-year-old was taken by ambulance to Kingston General Hospital,
where he eventually died.

Yesterday, the inquest into his death heard that Olinskie had been
strip-searched a month before he fell ill and prison staff found a
quantity of morphine pills, a prisoner-made weapon commonly called a
shank and a homemade syringe concealed between his buttocks.

Though no witness has linked the homemade syringe seized on Nov. 28,
2005, to the infection that killed Olinskie, his known drug use and
cause of death made the issue of a needle-exchange program in prisons
somewhat of a focal point of the first two days of proceedings.

Yesterday, Miguel Costa, the Corrections Canada security and
intelligence officer who seized the makeshift syringe from Olinskie
in 2005, said prisoners fashion crude instruments to shoot drugs out
of, including pens, eye droppers and whatever materials they can
access because real needles are difficult to find inside the confines
of a prison.

Introducing more needles into the prison by way of a needle-exchange
program, he said, would pose increased risks for staff and inmates.

"I understand the prospective of health care [personnel] and the need
for harm reduction for inmates," he said. "However, there's a
significant security concern where syringes are present in an institution."

Under questioning from Brian Callender, the lawyer for Olinskie's
family, Costa said that allowing prisoners to use syringes, even in a
controlled environment, would make it too difficult for staff to
prevent those needles from ending up in the general population of the prison.

"The security required to ensure that the syringes didn't end up in
the general population would be significant," he said.

Costa also spoke of a program in place at Kingston Penitentiary in
which inmates are given bleach to kill bacteria on needles in an
effort to reduce infection rates.

The inquest heard yesterday that six bleach bottles were found in
Olinskie's cell after he died.

The issue of introducing a national needle-exchange program in
Canadian prisons has been raised in the past.

While the Canadian Medical Association has supported it, the union
for prison guards and Corrections Canada has not.

On the first day of the Olinskie inquest, Kingston Penitentiary
doctor Allen McBride testified drug use among inmates has been a
long-standing problem in the prison system seems to be getting worse.

"What we have here is a case where it led to a tragic end," he told
the inquest.

McBride said that he agreed with the findings of a Canadian Medical
Association report that said the introduction of a needle-exchange
program would reduce the risk of infection.

A Coroner inquests is mandated by the province to take place whenever
somebody dies while in custody. The purpose is to determine the
manner in which the deceased died and the circumstances leading up to
it. Members of an inquest jury may also make recommendations to the
government that might help prevent similar deaths in the future.

The inquest adjourned yesterday until the next date can be scheduled.