The Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO) is sounding the alarm over a federal policy that would give clean needles to prisoners that guards wouldn’t be allowed to confiscate.
The policy resulted from a lawsuit against the federal government in 2012 by a former prisoner and several HIV/AIDS organizations. The applicant, Steven Simons, became infected with hepatitis C in Warkworth Institution in Ontario after a fellow prisoner used his needle.
In response to the lawsuit, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) piloted a Prison Needle Exchange Program (PNEP) in nine institutions beginning in 2018 to help prevent the sharing of needles among inmates. However, the pandemic delayed wider implementation….
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