GOVT UNDER PRESSURE TO CONSIDER NEEDLE PROGRAM FOR JAILS

The New South Wales Government is facing increasing pressure to introduce a
needle exchange program in the State's prisons.

The topic was the main issue of upper house question time in parliament
today against the backdrop of World AIDS day.

Drug use is rampant in government-run jails, with some research suggesting
one in four prisoners injects daily. Some politicians have joined calls for
a program to halt the spread of diseases such as AIDS and Hepatitis C.

Sydney's Silverwater Remand Centre is the latest jail to come under the
spotlight, after an HIV-positive prisoner admitted sharing needles with
other inmates.

His confession, after he was seen on a prison surveillance camera passing a
syringe to another inmate, prompted initial tests for 34 other inmates at
the prison.

Reform the Legal System MP Peter Breen today said the fallout from the
incident had spread, with a total of 143 prisoners coming forward with
serious health concerns.

Last year, police confiscated more than 1,800 grams of marijuana, 160 grams
of heroin and almost 900 syringes during searches of people visiting
prisoners in jail.

"With inmates in the system testing positive to third-world African rates of
bloodborne communicable diseases, can the Minister explain to the community
why the Commissioner for Corrective Services has dismissed out of hand the
idea of a needle exchange program operating in jails?" Mr Breen asked in
parliament.

He said needle exchange programs had operated successfully and without
incident in prisons in Europe, including Germany, Denmark, Switzerland and
Sweden.

"Will the government move to ensure that the health risks to prisoners,
their families and the wider community are addressed through the
introduction of a needle trial exchange program in NSW?" he said.

The sentiment was seconded by Australian Democrats MP Arthur
Chesterfield-Evans, who questioned why a report on the "neglected epidemic"
of Hepatitis C - which recommended that needle exchange programs be
considered - had been ignored.

Mr Chesterfield-Evans said the report, which advised that the European
trials should be looked at, had been ignored by the government for two
years.

The needle exchange program also has the support of groups such as Justice
Action, but the union representing the state's 3,500 prison officers has
warned that its members would immediately walk off the job if the state
government adopted it.

Their fears were made a reality two years ago when prison officer Geoff
Pearce died from an AIDS-related illness after being stabbed by an inmate
with a blood-filled syringe.

NSW Treasurer Michael Egan referred both questions to Corrective Services
Minister Bob Debus in the lower house.