PRISONERS at Casuarina Prison should have access to a needle exchange program, according to a study published this week.
The paper, published in the Journal of Heath, Safety and Environment, said the prison should introduce prison-regulated and controlled needle and syringe programs to reduce the risk of prison officers and prisoners contracting HIV and Hepatitis C from used needles.
The research found that despite strict controls, drugs did enter Casuarina Prison.
Lead author John Ryan said prison authorities knew prisoners were injecting and should see a risk to staff but were not taking precautions to control the risk and were acting irresponsibly as employers.
“Research suggests that seven per cent of prison officers may suffer accidental needle stick injury,” he said.
“Prison officers regularly come across needles which are hidden by prisoners, many of whom share needles and have the debilitating Hepatitis C virus.”
Mr Ryan said that as long as prisoners did not have access to clean needles, prison officers were at a higher risk of accidental injury that could lead to Hepatitis C infection.
“If a guard searching a cell searches up under a bed, for example, he can never be sure he won’t get a prick from a contaminated needle that has been shared dozens of times,” Mr Ryan said.
He also said it was incorrect to fear that prison addicts’ access to needles would lead to them being used as weapons because the program had been accepted and was effective in other prisons.
In response, Department of Corrective Services Offender Management deputy commissioner Jackie Tang said the department supported a zero-tolerance policy on drugs in prison.
“As such, we do not supply sterile injecting equipment and do not plan to introduce needle exchange programs into the State’s prisons,” he said.
Mr Tang said prison officers were supplied with personal protective gloves, education, training and procedures to minimise the risk of needle stick injuries.