Needle sharing in prison
Sharing needles and syringes carries the risk of transmitting communicable diseases, most notably hepatitis C (Butler and Simpson 2017). Community needle and syringe exchange programs have been shown to be a cost-effective way to reduce infections, such as hepatitis C (Abdul-Quader et al. 2013; Iversen et al. 2013; Kwon et al. 2012). In some countries, needle and syringe exchange programs have been extended to prisons, resulting in decreased needle sharing practices and bloodborne virus transmissions, with no evidence of major negative consequences (Lazarus et al. 2018; Moazen et al. 2018; Schwitters 2014).
About 1 in 8 (13%) prison dischargees reported sharing injecting equipment in prison (Indicator 2.2.12).
Abdul-Quader AS, Feelemyer J, Modi S, Stein ES, Briceno A, Semaan S et al. (2013) ‘Effectiveness of structural-level needle/syringe programs to reduce HCV and HIV infection among people who inject drugs: a systematic review’, AIDS and Behaviours 17:2878–2892.
Butler T and Simpson M (2017) National Prison Entrants’ Bloodborne Virus and Risk Behaviour Survey – 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016, Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney.
Iversen J, Wand H, Topp L, Kaldor J and Maher L (2013) ‘Reduction in HCV incidence among injection drug users attending needle and syringe programs in Australia: a linkage study’, American Journal of Public Health 103:1436–1444.
Kwon JA, Anderson J, Kerr CC, Thein HH, Zhang L, Iversen J et al. (2012) ‘Estimating the cost-effectiveness of needle-syringe programs in Australia’, AIDS 26(17):2201–2210.
Lazarus JV, Safreed-Harmon K, Hertherington KL, Bromberg DJ, Ocampo D, Graf N, Dichtl A, Stöver H and Wolff H (2018) ‘Health outcomes for clients of needle and syringe programs in prisons’, Epidemiologic Reviews, 40(1):96–104.
Moazen B, Moghaddim SS, Silbernagl MA, Lotfizadeh M, Bosworth RJ, Alammehrjerdi Z, Kinner SA, Wirtz AL, Bärnighausen W, Stöver HJ and Dolan K (2018) ‘Prevalence of drug injection, sexual activity, tattooing, and piercing among prison inmates’, Epidemiologic Reviews, 40(1):58–69.
Schwitters A (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA) Health interventions for prisoners - update of literature since 2007, report to the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, WHO/HIV 2014:12.