NEEDLES LIKE ARMING INMATES

A needle exchange for prison inmates seems at first glance a good way
to deal with the public health menace caused by the spread of
hepatitis C and HIV-AIDS. However, it is fraught with danger.

Handing out needles to prisoners is to put weapons in their hands
which can be used against corrections officers as well as against
other inmates. Dan MacLennan, president of the Alberta Union of
Provincial Employees, and a long-time corrections officer, says there
is no way prisoners, many of whom have a history of violence, should
be in possession of needles.

MacLennan suggested an alternative might be for nurses or corrections
officers to remain in possession of the needles, and inject the
prisoners with drugs. However, it hardly seems reasonable to ask
officials to inject prisoners with illicit substances.

It would be far better to focus efforts on keeping drugs out of
prisons -- not always an easy task when visitors smuggle them in,
hidden in body cavities or even swallowed. MacLennan says many prisons
have gone back to the old style of visit, with inmate and visitor
separated by a partition, and it has cut drug smuggling
drastically.

The concern for public health when inmates with hepatitis or who are
HIV-positive leave prison is a legitimate one. More drug rehab and
safe-sex education behind bars would help. Arming inmates with
needles, however, is a non-starter.