Newly published studies of inmates in Ontario and Quebec found rates of both hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV infections much higher than in the general population. The most common source of prisoners' infections was shared needles, one of the lead researchers noted. The data were collected in 2003 and 2004.

In Ontario, inmates had a hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection rate 22 times that of the general populace and an HIV rate 11 times higher. In Quebec, prisoners surveyed had an HCV infection rate 23 times higher than the general population and an HIV rate 19 times higher.

"For public health reasons, for human rights reasons, for fiscal reasons, it makes perfect sense that we should have needle exchange programs in prisons, just like we have had them outside of prisons for two decades now," said Richard Elliot, deputy director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. In an editorial accompanying the studies, Elliot said politicians are practicing a "deadly disregard" for inmates by not making it a priority to employ needle exchange programs (NEPs) in regional, provincial, and federal prisons.

Ontario's Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services has no plan to introduce NEPs into its correctional sites, said Stuart McGetrick, a department spokesperson.

Canada's approach to prison NEPs is now more conservative than some European countries. Even Kazakhstan and Moldova have established NEPs in their prisons, said Peter Ford, an author of the Ontario study.

The Quebec and Ontario studies, "Prevalence of HIV and Hepatitis C Virus Infections Among Inmates of Quebec Provincial Prisons" and "Prevalence of HIV and Hepatitis C Virus Infections Among Inmates of Ontario Remand Facilities," and the editorial, "Deadly Disregard," were published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (2007;117(3):252-256, 257-261 and 262-264, respectively).

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