PRISONS PLAN TO STERILISE NEEDLES FOR DRUG USERS

PRISONS are planning to introduce a "clean needle" scheme to prevent the
spread of hepatitis and HIV among drug-taking inmates.

Joyce Quin, the Prisons Minister, is considering a pilot scheme in which
sterilising equipment would be used on prison wings to cut the risk of
spreading disease. Doctors are already permitted to prescribe condoms to
inmates, to reduce the danger of infection among them.

The need for cleaning equipment to be made available in jails is
highlighted today in a report by Sir David Ramsbotham, the Chief Inspector
of Prisons. He found that up to 30 prisoners were sharing one syringe and
needle at Erlestoke House prison, near Devizes, Wiltshire.

Sir David calls for urgent action by the Prison Service to address the
problem. "There is a clear need for the Prison Service to reconsider the
availability of cleaning equipment for needles to encourage harm
reduction," he writes.

The Chief Inspector says that clear guidance is needed about the issue of
sterilising equipment to those at high risk from sharing needles.

The proposal put to ministers would involve issuing a tablet containing
disinfectant which prisoners could use to clean equipment. About 18 months
ago tablets were withdrawn when it was discovered that there was a safety
danger when inmates collected large numbers and burnt them to produce
chlorine gas.

In his report on Erlestoke House, Sir David says that substance abuse at
the jail was a major problem. Evidence indicated that the use of injectable
drugs was increasing.

"Received intelligence showed very considerable sharing of injecting
equipment, with up to 30 people sharing one syringe and needle," he says.
"This was substantiated by the sizeable numbers of patients found to be
infected with hepatitis C."

Sir David outlines the difficulties facing prison officers who attempt to
curb heroin abuse in the jail. "Unless prisoners are discovered in the act,
this is an extremely difficult issue to tackle. Needles are almost always
very carefully hidden, and destroyed when no longer required."

He says that prisoners told his inspection team that drugs were brought
into the jail by inmates working outside the prison or were thrown over the
fence and collected in the grounds. Prisoners told Sir David that it was
only the desperate who had drugs smuggled into them during visits from
friends and family.

In 1996, Ann Widdecombe, then Prisons Minister, became the first minister
to admit publicly that medical officers in the Prison Service were
permitted to dispense condoms.