Question Period Note: Prison Needle Exchange Program

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

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

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

• Appropriate safeguards have been established in every institution to ensure that PNEP kits are safely stored and accounted for at all times.

• A Threat Risk Assessment (TRA) is conducted to review all participant applications to ensure the safety and security of staff, inmates, and the institution.

• 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 Canada (CSC) research findings also show that over 50% of the incoming male 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 (for example, 2022 Health Survey, standardized intake assessments, and health care records).
CSC’s 2022 Health Survey found that 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, which view 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), Overdose Prevention Service (OPS), Self-Management and Recovery Training (SMART), and other peer support and harm reduction services (e.g. naloxone nasal spray, fentanyl testing strip, etc.).
To ensure the safety and security of staff, inmates and the institution, a Threat 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 August 2025, the PNEP has been implemented at 13 institutions across the country. CSC is exploring the possibility to implement at more sites based on inmate population needs.

None