Canada’s prison needle exchange program failing amid poor rollout: advocates

Health advocates say the federal prison needle exchange program is failing because of a poor rollout by the Correctional Service and a lack of improvement since it was introduced four years ago.

Sterile equipment for drug use has been available to inmates at nine of 43 Canadian prisons since the program last expanded in 2019, and last summer officials said it would be implemented across the country.

A report published this week by the HIV Legal Network says the program continues to exist in only nine prisons and is inaccessible to most people behind bars.

In June, 53 people _ of nearly 13,000 offenders in federal custody _ were participating in the program.

Sandra Ka Hon Chu, co-executive director of the HIV Legal Network, says multiple layers of required institutional approval and stigma are key reasons for low participation rates.

The federal government says it is committed to expanding the program but that plans to do so were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.