Question Period Note: Prison Needle Exchange Program

• Canadians have been impacted by the ongoing opioid crisis, including inmates within federal correctional institutions.

• To prevent overdoses and the spread infectious diseases, the Correctional Service of Canada has introduced harm reduction measures.

• The Prison Needle Exchange Program is a harm reduction program that works to limit the transmission of infectious diseases, such as HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV).

• This program reduces the public health and safety risk to other inmates, staff, and the community.

• There have been no reported assaults involving staff or inmates associated with this program.

Lifetime prevalence of problematic alcohol and substance use at the time of admission to federal institutions is assessed as 61% (men) and 61.6% (women) and higher for Indigenous men (85.2%) and women (85.7%). Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) research findings also show that over 50% of the incoming men offender population at time of assessment reported a current substance use problem, and the majority (68%) have a concurrent mental health disorder.
Approximately 20-22% of men and 27-29% of women report a lifetime history of injection drug use. This finding is consistent across multiple research and surveillance activities (e.g. 2007 Inmate Survey, standardized intake assessments, and health care records).
Those who inject drugs were 10 times more likely to acquire Hepatitis C (HCV) in custody. In CSC, 47% of all new HCV infections were associated with injection drug use.

Substance Use Services in CSC
CSC’s harm reduction approach is consistent with the federal Government’s Canadian Drugs and Substances Strategy and recommendations by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and views substance use as a health issue. CSC provides a range of substance use services, including harm reduction, treatment, psychoeducation, and support in recovery to promote overall wellbeing.
CSC’s harm reduction measures include Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT), Prison Needle Exchange Program (PNEP), and Overdose Prevention Services (OPS).
To ensure the safety and security of staff, inmates and the institution, a Treat Risk Assessment (TRA) is conducted to review all PNEP applications. TRAs evaluate factors that could pose a danger to the management of an inmate, the safety of others and the security of an operational unit. This is the same model that is used for the distribution of EpiPens and insulin needles. Appropriate safeguards have been established in every institution to ensure that PNEP kits are safely stored and accounted for at all times.
As of May 2025, the PNEP has been implemented at 14 locations across the country.

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