Rampant Hep C a reason not to have a needle exchange in the prison?

Why on earth can’t the prison stop drugs going in in the first place?

Stanhope took it too far on radio this morning, prattling on about the “human rights” involved. He was very, very exercised about it, and brought in a little straw poll of a couple of prison officers he had had a conversation with, as representing wholesale dissent among the CPSU prison guards on the issue. Frankly, if Stanhope collared me at a function and squawked about a needle exchange the way he did on radio, I’d be agreeing with him just to shut him up.

Is a prisoner fancying injecting drugs and finding it difficult to get a clean needle a “human rights” issue? I think not. I think it’s a matter of: “you know full well you’ll get hep c from a dirty needle, so how about you decide not to inject”, not to mention “prison should instigate enough searches and checks to ensure drugs don’t get in”.

I would have thought the duty of care would be to get these people off drugs. How come it’s “zero tolerance” on smoking outdoors at Floriade, for law-abiding citizens, but the ACT Government’s policy is to mollycoddle hard drug users while they’re in jail?

They should encourage it and gain some control. Their discouragement is a load of s***. Its pretty obvious to see when you are talking about our “Captive audience”.

RichRick said :

I cannot agree with what Jon Stanhope said on 666 Breakfast this morning. Prisoners are a “captive audience” and should be treated for their drug addictions rather than being officially encouraged to keep on keeping on. I’m hoping Katy Gallagher will have a more balanced view than Mr Stanhope.

I cannot agree with what Jon Stanhope said on 666 Breakfast this morning. Prisoners are a “captive audience” and should be treated for their drug addictions rather than being officially encouraged to keep on keeping on. I’m hoping Katy Gallagher will have a more balanced view than Mr Stanhope.