PRISON TATTOO PROGRAM PUT ON TRIAL

Tories Consider Scrapping Program Designed To Reduce Hiv
Infections

A contentious pilot project that set up tattoo parlours in federal
prisons to allow inmates to practise safe tattooing is on the
Conservative government's hit list and faces possible
cancellation.

For the last year, prisoners at six Canadian penitentiaries have been
able to legally obtain tattoos for about $5 to $15 each, as part an
effort to cut down on the spread of HIV-AIDS and hepatitis C through
dirty needles.

The government is considering whether to continue with the project,
confirmed Melisa Leclerc, communications director for Public Safety
Minister Stockwell Day. Ms. Leclerc cautioned that no final decision
has been made.

Internal government documents indicate Mr. Day, immediately after
assuming his portfolio last February, told Correctional Service Canada
he wanted to look at other options to the $700,000 pilot program.

The fledgling initiative has its supporters and detractors, and trying
to convince the public of the benefits has been a challenge,
acknowledged Suzanne Leclerc, a spokeswoman for the correctional
service in Ottawa.

"It's an expense, but it's not that much of an expense compared to the
price of treatment of an inmate or a person with an infectious
disease," she said. "It's an investment in the long term."

Tattoos traditionally have been part of prison culture, with almost
half of offenders getting tattoos while incarcerated, according to a
federal survey.

Statistics also show that the rate of hepatitis C in prisons is 30
times higher than among the general population, and the rate of
HIV-AIDS is seven to 10 times higher.

"This is a way of satisfying the jailhouse urge to get tattoos without
people getting sick," said Gord Tanner, chief of education at Matsqui
Institution in Abbotsford, B.C., where 108 of roughly 300 prisoners
have been legally tattooed in the last year with such markings as the
names of their girlfriends or rings of barbed wire to signify they've
done prison time.

Other than Matsqui, the penitentiaries offering tattoos are Atlantic
Institution in Renous, N.B., Cowansville in Quebec, Bath Institution
near Kingston, Rockywood in Stony Mountain, Man., and the Fraser
Valley Institution for Women in B.C.

The prison-sanctioned parlours meet federal health standards and they
are closely supervised so that equipment cannot be stolen, said Mr.
Tanner. The tattoos are administered by one or two trained inmates at
each facility.

A spokesman for the union representing prison guards said the pilot
project has been a waste of money and that backroom tattooing is as
prevalent as ever.

Prisoners use whatever makeshift implements they can get their hands
on, from razors to guitar strings, and ink from a ballpoint pen, he said.

"It won't ever stop illegal tattooing. That's just part of the culture
of living in prison," said John Williams of the Union of Canadian
Corrections Officers in Abbotsford, B.C.

"There are some excellent artists who do tattoo work, and they're
still going to do that. It's a big commodity in jail and it's a
trade-off. It's a barter system where you wheel and deal. I give you
tobacco; you give me a tattoo."

Mr. Williams said government-sanctioned tattoos "won't even put a
dent" in reducing infectious diseases.

"So why put money into a dead horse? Put it into other things, like
zero tolerance on drugs," he said.