Kitchener prison to pilot needle exchange program

Union representing correctional officers against plan

KITCHENER — Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener is one of two federal prisons that will pilot a needle exchange program.

Correctional Service Canada will implement the program starting in June at one men’s and one women’s institution, followed by a full national rollout beginning in January.

Inmates will have access to clean needles as part of the prison service’s ongoing efforts to manage infectious diseases that are both blood-borne and sexually transmitted, such as hepatitis C and HIV, in federal correctional facilities.

The program may also help decrease the sharing of needles among people who inject drugs, a spokesperson said in an email.

The Union of Canadian Correctional Officers is against the plan, with national president Jason Godin saying it will create a “very dangerous situation.”

“We’re not a normal community,” Godin said. “We’re a community where inmates have been sentenced by the courts for their crimes.”

He said there’s more violence when there are drugs in a prison, and handing out needles potentially puts weapons in the wrong hands.

The focus should be on rehabilitation, not condoning drug use.

“Our goal is to get offenders off drugs and be productive members of society,” Godin said.

“I think the Canadian public really needs to be wary of this.”

He said it also puts correctional officers in a tough spot since they’re supposed to stop drug use among inmates.

“Our role is to confiscate and uphold the law,” Godin said.

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network has long argued for needle-exchange programs in Canadian prisons, and applaud-

ed the planned program as a sign the federal government “recognizes the solid and mounting international evidence” about the effectiveness of needle programs in preventing needless infections.

From 2007 to 2017, the prevalence of hepatitis C in prison declined to 7.8 per cent from 31.6 per cent, while HIV dropped to 1.2 per cent from just over two per cent, according to federal statistics.

However, these diseases are still far more widespread behind bars than among the general public.

Godin said federal prisons are already providing inmates with methadone to wean off drugs along with counselling, and those efforts are working.

“The rates are already falling,” Godin said.

“It’s not logic.”

The Correctional Service Canada spokesperson said it is difficult to predict the number of Grand Valley inmates who will participate in the program.

The other prison included in the initial stage of the program is the Atlantic Institution in New Brunswick.