Experts warn AIDS prison crisis ahead: They want sterile needles, methadone
to protect prisoners and the public

By: Jack Keating, Staff Reporter

Federal prison authorities were warned yesterday that an AIDS catastrophe
among prisoners is just around the corner.

``The correctional service is failing to respond to the HIV crisis in
prisons,'' Dr. Ralf Jurgens, project coordinator for the Canadian AIDS
Society and Canadian HIV/AIDS Network, told an AIDS conference at the
Bayshore Inn.

Rates of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus among prisoners
are more than 10 times as high as among the general population, said the
Montreal doctor. Bleach, sterile injection equipment and methadone
maintenance treatment must be made available in prisons to avoid an
infectiousdisease epidemic that will spread to the public, he said.

``We emphasize that this does not mean condoning drug use or giving the
prisoners the right to use drugs, but is a pragmatic and necessary health
measure that will better protect prisoners, staff and the public,'' said
Jurgens, author of HIV/AIDS in Prisons: Final Report. Released in September
1996, not one of the report's 38 recommendations has been implemented.

``Because Canada is experiencing an increasing epidemic of HIV among
injection drug users and because many injection drug users spend years of
their lives in prisons, the number of prisoners with HIV or AIDS will
continue to grow,'' he said.

``This is a publichealth issue,'' said Dr. Peter Ford, who works with
prisoners at Kingston Penitentiary in Ontario. ``These guys eventually get
out and will have contact with the public. The prisoners tell me it's
easier to get drugs in prison than on the streets.There's no problem
getting drugs. It's the same in every prison.

``These guys are all sharing the same needles. It's going to be a disaster,
worse than the HIV epidemic that's happening on (Vancouver's) downtown east
side right now.''

Said Tasha Yovetich, national programs consultant at the Canadian AIDS
Society: ``We know that over 25 per cent of Vancouver's injection drug
users are testing positive for HIV and rates are still increasing.

``When is Correctional Services Canada finally going to implement
responsible change that will protect prisoners and staff from HIV and
hepatitis infection?''

One in three prisoners has hepatitis C.

``The time for change is overdue,'' said Yovetich.

Judy Portman, coordinator of AIDS for the correctional service, said an
announcement is pending on methadone. The department is still studying a
needle exchange that would end the deadly practice of sharing needles.

There are 34,000 prisoners in Canada. Of those, 14,000 are in
penitentiaries. B.C. has a total of about 4,500 prisoners.

The experts cited Switzerland, Germany and Australia which have made
sterile injection equipment available to prisoners as models for Canada
to follow.

``The health of the prisoners improved, there was no increase in drug
consumption and needles were not used as weapons,'' said Jurgens. Jurgens
said in his report Canada's drug laws need reform. ``The financial and
human costs of these drug laws are enormous and prisons are burdened with a
problem society fails to deal with and that (prisons) are even less
equipped to deal with.''