Prisoners are fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, loved ones and part of our communities. They have a right to health that must be realized.

Meet James and Craig, two brothers who are also former prisoners. James caught HIV in prison. His infection was entirely preventable.
Prisoners are fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, loved ones and part of our communities. They have a right to health that must be realized.

Meet Kathleen. Her husband is currently serving time in prison. She worries about his health while he is there, as well as the health of his fellow prisoners.
Prisoners are fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, loved ones and part of our communities. They have a right to health that must be realized.

Meet Sheryl, a mother of two who was infected with hepatitis C from sharing drug injection equipment. She describes the trauma of prison.
Prisoners are fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, loved ones and part of our communities. They have a right to health that must be realized.

Meet William and Connie. William used drugs to cope with the death of his parents. His sister Connie worries about him in prison and is concerned for his health.
Prisoners are fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, loved ones and part of our communities. They have a right to health that must be realized.

Meet Corrine. She works in prison support and understands the conditions many prisoners face inside and just why injection drug use is so rampant.

About the Issue

In Canada, rates of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among prisoners are many times higher than in the overall population. One of the main reasons for this is the sharing of used needles to inject drugs. Because of the scarcity of sterile injection equipment in prison, people who inject drugs behind bars are more likely to share and re-use injection equipment than people in the community. This significantly increases their risk of contracting HIV and HCV.

Prison needle and syringe programs (PNSPs) provide prisoners access to sterile injecting equipment and are an important way to reduce the risk of infection from sharing used needles. Yet in spite of the overwhelming evidence of the benefits of PNSPs around the world, most Canadian prisons do not permit the distribution of sterile injection equipment to prisoners. Prisoners’ health has suffered as a result — a reality that is costly to public health and to the public purse when one considers the lifetime costs of treating HIV and HCV.

In 2006, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) conducted a study on the benefits of PNSPs and affirmed many of the positive findings of PNSP evaluations in many countries. Specifically, the PHAC report confirmed that PNSPs consistently:

reduce needle-sharing;
do not lead to increased drug use or injecting;
reduce drug overdoses;
facilitate getting users into drug treatment programmes;
have not resulted in needles or syringes being used as weapons against staff or other people in prison;
have been effective in a wide range of institutions; and
have effectively used different methods of needle distribution, including peer-to-peer distribution, hand-to-hand distribution by prison health care staff or outside agencies, and automatic dispensing machines.

Mistakenly, PNSPs are sometimes seen as controversial because people wrongly believe they enable drug use. There is also a common misconception that prisoners will use injection equipment as weapons against staff and each other. But in the over 60 prisons around the world where PNSPs exist, these fears have never been realized. Instead, PNSPs have substantially reduced behaviours that lead to HIV and HCV infection and have a positive impact on prison security, because there are fewer used, hidden needles and people are less likely to be accidentally pricked with a used needle.

The failure to provide access to this essential health measure is a violation of prisoners' constitutional rights, and their right to health as established by international law. But because prisoners are a forgotten community, perceived to deserve whatever illnesses they get — especially if it is through drug use — the current Government of Canada has dragged its feet on implementing PNSPs.

The urgency for effective, accessible and confidential PNSPs in all Canadian prisons has never been more pressing. With a growing number of people using drugs in prison, consistently high rates of HIV and HCV, and increasing overdose incidents behind bars, we all need to be aware of the health risks associated with inadequate harm reduction measures in prison and how it affects all Canadians — especially when most prisoners ultimately return to their communities.

To learn more about PNSPs and the evidence demonstrating their public health benefits, download Prison needle and syringe programs: policy brief.

“Syringes were smuggled into the institution. We shared syringes. The first time I injected drugs I shared a syringe. One syringe would probably be used for 3 or 4 months everyday for at least 20 times a day. We would sharpen it on a matchbook cover to keep it sharp.”