Canadian government sued over needle exchanges in prison

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Canadian government sued over needle exchanges in prison

19 October 2012

Syringe exchange programs are a crucial component of a comprehensive strategy to prevent the spread of infectious diseases but the Canadian Federal Correctional Service does not permit this life-saving health service in Canada’s federal prisons. To challenge this policy, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, Prisoners with HIV/AIDS Support Action Network (PASAN), CATIE, the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN) and Steven Simons, a former federal prisoner, launched a lawsuit against the Government of Canada on September 25th over its failure to protect the health of people in prison through its ongoing refusal to implement clean needle and syringe programs.

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