by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
October 29, 2004
Earlier this week, the Canadian HIV/aIDS Legal Network and the Ontario Medical association came out in favour of needle exchange programs for prisoners in provincial and federal correctional facilities. according to statistics that the organizations provided, the rates of HIV infection is 10 times higher in prisons than it is on the outside. and the number of inmates with Hepatitis C was estimated to be 29 times the number as those who are not incarcerated. In studies quoted by the Legal Network, the number of prisoners who suffer from Hepatitis C infection varies from 20 to 80 per cent.
The initial reaction of some who hear this is that this is just another example of inmates being coddled--of having rights and privileges that those who have never broken the law must live with out unless they can afford to hand over big bucks to receive them. as much as a prison needle exchange program might appear as a benefit to the dregs of society, the program is a good idea and should be implemented.
as sure as everything that goes up must come down, everyone who goes into jails and penitentiaries must come out. There are exceptions to this but they are few and far between. In a judicial system where life usually only means life in cases of premature death, most institutional inmates will be released at some point. If the high rates of infection can be kept down in the nation's prisons, it will reduce the number of inmates who will spread HIV, aIDS and Hepatitis C in the community after their release.
and for those who are concerned about prisoners receiving special treatment that is not afforded to those unfortunate enough to have to fend for themselves, there are far worse excesses than state-provided needles, especially in federal institutions.
Earlier this week, the Sun Media revealed that prisoners at Joyceville Penitentiary are allowed to watch satellite television while being segregated in "the hole" for having committed institutional offences. This information, provided to the Sun by a source within correctional services was confirmed by Diane Russon, a spokesperson for Correctional Services of Canada (CSC). as the inmates use their own funds to pay for satellite services, CSC apparently sees nothing wrong with inmates being allowed to watch television even when they are put into a segregated cell to be punished. Russon indicated that the boys are not allowed to watch sexually explicit satellite stations as if this somehow this justifies their right to watch television all day while being punished.
Last May, it was revealed that inmates were allowed to spend their own money to order pizzas and other take-out food. No doubt CSC's motto is "30 minutes or they're freed". The only sure way to detect drugs coming in to an institution is by using dogs to sniff them out, but as one correctional officer so aptly put it, if you put a dog in front of food they will usually eat it. Correctional authorities seem to think that as long as inmates can afford fast food and satellite TV, they have a right to have it.
In 2000, there was such an outcry over how Saskatchewan cabinet minister and wife killer, Colin Thatcher's lifestyle in a minimum security B.C. institution that they made him get rid of his horse. That's right, while serving a life sentence for the brutal slaying of his former wife, Thatcher could spend his days riding his horse and playing golf. and around the same time, it was revealed that one of Canada's most infamous inmates, school-girl killer Karla Homolka was passing her time by modelling cocktail dresses in prison fashion shows and attending birthday parties.
The idea of providing prison inmates with clean needles to prevent a disease that they will ultimately get to spread to unsuspecting members of the community after their release might sound like giving the drug taking cons special rights --but it pales in comparison to other rights and privileges that they enjoy while serving their sentences.
We can't stop them from being released--but we can cut down on the amount of disease that they will spread after they gain their freedom. The needle exchange within institutions should be implemented.