Nationwide Rollout of Prison Needle Exchange Program Concerns Union

A Correctional Service of Canada vehicle is parked at the Kingston Penitentiary in Kingston, Ont., in a file photo. (The Canadian Press/Frank Gunn)

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.

The applicants weren’t satisfied, saying that the PNEP was inadequate and unconstitutional because authorities didn’t view the service as essential health care. They also argued that users could be identified and therefore singled out by guards, and that participation could hurt a prisoner’s chance of early release. Authorities responded by changing the policy to prevent such information from being shared with guards and the parole board.

However, in May 2020, Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba dismissed an application to declare the PNEP unconstitutional, saying that the program was only partially implemented and was still evolving. He also found that the general distribution of needles presented a safety risk.

Despite this, in his 2021–22 annual report released in June 2022, the Correctional Investigator of Canada, who serves as an ombudsman for federal offenders, called for “CSC’s zero-tolerance policy to drug use and possession be recalibrated to focus on corrective measures for drug diversion and trafficking, rather than stigmatizing, targeting or disciplining persons struggling with addictions or substance abuse disorders.”

The annual report also recommended that PNEP criteria “be significantly revamped to encourage participation ... with a view to full national implementation within the next 12 months.”

Risk of Creating Intravenous Drug Use Problem

Jake Suelzle, UCCO vice president for the Prairie region, told The Epoch Times his union remains vigorously opposed to the national rollout of the PNEP.

“Our concern, besides the safety and weaponization of needles, is we’re creating an intravenous drug use problem, which is of course incredibly more dangerous for overdoses,” Suelzle said.

“We don’t have an intravenous drug use problem in federal institutions. We have a drug problem, an enormous drug problem, but the drugs are used orally and through smoking simply because intravenous drug use requires much more infrastructure to use, and [inmates] don’t have access to needles on a regular basis.”

Suelzle, a correctional officer with 15 years’ experience, said union employees helped pioneer the Overdose Prevention Service (OPS) in June 2019 at the Drumheller Institution in Alberta, where he works. He says it’s a safer way for guards and inmates to accommodate harm reduction.

The Correctional Investigator’s annual report called for both the PNEP, and another program called the Overdose Prevention Service (OPS), to be rolled out across CSC’s 43 institutions.

According to Suelzle, the OPS is equivalent of a “safe injection site,” which he says ensures needles remain in a confined area.

A spokesperson for CSC confirmed to The Epoch Times the rollout is underway.

“CSC remains committed to the further implementation of both the PNEP and OPS across the country in comprehensive consultation with patients, employees and labour partners,” the response reads.

“To date, we’ve updated health promotion information for the PNEP and the OPS and we’ve provided training to CSC health staff to increase understanding of substance use and stigma. By implementing multiple targeted initiatives to our inmate population to prevent and manage drug use, including opioid use, we have shown that we are committed to the individuals under our care.”

Suelzle said backers of the PNEP strategically implemented the program in men’s and women’s institutions with minimal drug and gang presence. He believes implementation in the remaining CSC institutions is risky.

“As correctional officers, we have a huge safety issue with this because we’re dealing with federal inmates in federal institutions where weapons are a huge issue used against other inmates and used against us,” he said.

“Frankly, the inmate population supports us on this too. The irony is incredible. We’ve had institutions with 100 percent of their inmate population signing petitions against this, and they were discarded.”

‘Worst-Case Scenario’

One of the biggest concerns is the risk of correctional officers getting stabbed with a needle, which Suelzle described as “an officer’s worst-case scenario.”

He said that, unlike a typical physical assault by a prisoner, getting stabbed with a needle leaves a worse “emotional toll” on officers, as the victims can’t be told what diseases the prisoner carries or whether they are safe to have close contact with their own family.

Suelzle noted that the PNEP also creates a large loophole in normal procedures.

“When we catch inmates actively using a needle in a cell [under PNEP], our obligation is to close the door and walk away, which we have a huge issue with. Besides the moral obligation and the mission of the Correctional Service of Canada to interrupt that, should he overdose, my career as a correctional officer is now in jeopardy,” he said.

Guards already struggle to confiscate contraband flown into prison yards by drones, he said, noting that at one point six drones were above the Drumheller Institution where he works at the same time. He believes the PNEP will hurt officer recruitment and retention.

‘Beyond Bizarre’

Darryl Davies, a Carleton University professor of criminology and a former CSC contractor and employee, calls the PNEP “beyond bizarre.”

“This is beyond common sense. This is really from la-la land because it is incomprehensible,” Davies said in an interview.

“Security to me is the foundation of any other success, the stability of any institution. If you compromise that by doing something as stupid as this, then the risk of violence is going to escalate for staff and inmates and the guards. Who wants to work in the insane asylum, especially when the insane asylum is being driven by management who haven’t got a clue what they’re doing?”

Another UCCO officer in Alberta also spoke to the Epoch Times with concerns about the PNEP, but on the condition of anonymity given that their terms of employment forbade public comment.

“They’re not allowed to have illegal drugs and stuff, but yet if we see them injecting in their cell with an illegal drug, we’re just supposed to close the door and carry on,” the employee said.

“If you have a guy that’s in there for drug possession or drug use, ... how is injecting needles without getting any consequence—in a jail of all things—what’s that going to do? They’re not coming out a better person.”

The officer said the PNEP will make everyone in jail vulnerable.

“If they stab an officer, they could inject us with bleach, dirty blood, you name it. It’s just such a risk,” the officer said.

“He could inject another inmate. He could inject his roommate, himself, an officer, one of the health-care workers, a teacher, a parole officer, librarian, chaplain, anybody.”