17 November 2010

Consensus building on needles in the prison?

| johnboy
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The Greens’ Amanda Bresnan is announcing she’s achieved a consensus on syringes and needles being provided at the Hume Hilton.

“The biggest question is not whether we implement a needle and syringe program but rather how, and overcoming the concerns expressed by some of the corrections officers. It’s time to move forward on this issue and propose positive solutions.

Intriguingly the word “exchange” has been dropped.

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colourful sydney racing identity8:32 am 19 Nov 10

georgesgenitals said :

johnboy said :

Dogs miss a lot. Their benefit is occasionally finding the unexpected.

Not sure of your source of this info, but drug detector dogs, when properly trained, find an amazing amount of stuff.

Maybe that’s where Joel Monaghan went wrong – If he had argued that he had a couple of joints in his dacks, he would have got off (if you’ll pardon the pun) with a warning…

georgesgenitals said :

johnboy said :

Dogs miss a lot. Their benefit is occasionally finding the unexpected.

Not sure of your source of this info, but drug detector dogs, when properly trained, find an amazing amount of stuff.

Plus they just love sniffing assholes all day…

Clown Killer3:46 pm 18 Nov 10

Let’s not beat around the bush here. A bunch of drugs get into that system via the system. Spend the money on fixing that rather than handing out needles.

colourful sydney racing identity2:21 pm 18 Nov 10

What you are missing ireckonpolicedoagoodjob (apart from a couple of spaces in your user name so it doesn’t get cut off) is that a lot of the drugs that get into prisons are brought in by staff of the prison including corrections officers.

Ironpdog “Has anyone put forward the idea to stop letting prisoners have contact with visitors in a way that drugs can be passed to them? “

Absolutely, that should get looked into.

“Are the kind of people that inject themselves with drugs even concerned about their health?”

Yes

ireckonpolicedoagoodjob10:43 am 18 Nov 10

Has anyone put forward the idea to stop letting prisoners have contact with visitors in a way that drugs can be passed to them? Maybe stop visitors all together if that doesn’t help? It’s radical, but surely it can be justified to ensure the health and well-being of the prisoners and to protect them from the health risk associated with drug taking (clean needles or not).

Are the kind of people that inject themselves with drugs even concerned about their health?

I reckon corrections officers do a good job.

Affirmative Action Man10:05 am 18 Nov 10

No jail in the world has been able to stop drugs coming in – usually by visitors or guards.

The point is when prisoners get out do you want them relatively healthy or full of hep C & HIV & spreading it to the community cause they got it through contaminated needles in prison.

Let’s just say I’ve talked to people from the other side of the deal. They fear the dogs, but they’ve got stuff past them, and were at liberty to tell the tale. Dogs find an amazing amount of stuff because an astonishing amount of stuff is going past.

georgesgenitals9:01 am 18 Nov 10

johnboy said :

Dogs miss a lot. Their benefit is occasionally finding the unexpected.

Not sure of your source of this info, but drug detector dogs, when properly trained, find an amazing amount of stuff.

cleo said :

How insane! What’s wrong with using dogs to detect drugs on visitors and staff, I’m sure this would work, not so hard, how on earth can these prisoners be rehabilitated, under this scheme, that’s why most of them are there in the first place, talk about dumb!
Why not detox and counselling?
This won’t stop the spread of hep C or Aids, they better throw in some condoms!

They already use dogs. It does work…sometimes; dogs aren’t perfect machines.

Dogs miss a lot. Their benefit is occasionally finding the unexpected.

How insane! What’s wrong with using dogs to detect drugs on visitors and staff, I’m sure this would work, not so hard, how on earth can these prisoners be rehabilitated, under this scheme, that’s why most of them are there in the first place, talk about dumb!
Why not detox and counselling?
This won’t stop the spread of hep C or Aids, they better throw in some condoms!

Mike Crowther8:49 pm 17 Nov 10

I’ve written no end of letters and articles on Syringes in prison. The Canberra Times however simply does not give oxygen to any argument against, unless it’s the straw man ‘drugs are bad’ argument put up to be demolished by proponents. However, I did carefully read Ms. Bresnan’s announcement. She wants to ‘Overcome’ concerns expressed by staff. (Note, not ‘address’ them, but overcome them.) That’s the Green way. She also indulges in Newspeak referring to objections being raised by ‘some’ officers. In 20 years I never met one single screw either working or retired that is in favor. Perhaps if The Greens really have such people they may like to trot one of them out?

A few weeks ago on the very same Times page as an ‘ACT needs a needle exchange’ story, there was a news item where one, Julianne Williams, was bail refused for aledgedly using a blood-filled syringe in an armed hold up. Presumably Ms. Bresnan is confident that later that evening Williams was somehow a fit and proper person to be issued with a syringe and would never dream of misusing it….

Mr Gillespie8:09 pm 17 Nov 10

Inspector Of Prisons Stuart Gillespie would have syringes and needles banned outright. No questions asked. Addicts would instead be forced to undergo drug detox, or starve and go without. Gillespie would kick Stanhope’s arse so hard he wouldn’t be able to sit down for a a very long time. The Hume Hilton is hideously luxurious.

Pitchka said :

Why TF are these inmates still allowed to inject themselves with illicit drugs when incarcerated!

…for drug offences in most cases.

Another Stanhope F—up!

Clearly there are enough drugs coming into the Hilton to justify this.

I bet a few years in there is looking pretty damn attractive to a lot of people right now.

Well providing free syringes is hardly like giving them access to the telly – Ok yes its saying that drugs in prison exist and we’re failing it our attempts to stamp it out. But I don’t know of any prisons where illicit drugs aren’t a problem unfortunately.

I don’t see how providing syringes and disposal means will increase the use of drugs in jail.

The only real problem is the potential use of the syringes as a weapon and I don’t know how they are going to address that.

Whether one agrees with the a) jail is for punishment or b) jail is for rehabilitation or both, I can’t see this program serving either.

“The vast majority of experts and interest groups support an NSP because it’s the best chance we have against stopping the spread of hepatitis C and other blood borne viruses amongst prisoners and the wider community,” Ms Bresnan said today.”

Ummm Nope. Just dont inject – simple. Our Ms Bresnan seems fatally affected with “greenism” whereby the Brain is incapable of rational thought and prefers to meander aimlessly through life with ‘feel good’ garbage like this.

Why TF are these inmates still allowed to inject themselves with illicit drugs when incarcerated!

boo boo said :

I’d like to hear what the officer’s concerns are. Will they be working in an environment that has the potential for a stick-injury in a confrontation for example? It would only take one bad apple in a barrel full of them.

I think they already work in that environment. At least with the “program” the needles/syringes won’t be hidden in places around the gaol but rather disposed of properly.

” Will they be working in an environment that has the potential for a stick-injury in a confrontation for example? It would only take one bad apple in a barrel full of them.”

I believe the argument runs that they are already working in this environment.

Am i so old fashioned that i still think that jail is a place of punishment? Having this program is ludicris! These people are being punished! The only drugs that they should have access to is asprin after the guards re-educate them.

This is a waste of taxpayers dollars.

I’d like to hear what the officer’s concerns are. Will they be working in an environment that has the potential for a stick-injury in a confrontation for example? It would only take one bad apple in a barrel full of them.

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