Two people have died from overdoses in a week at the Mountain Institution in Agassiz, B.C.
The deaths have been reported by the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, who credit the fatalities to the federal Prison Needle Exchange Program.
Since June 2018, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) has been operating a Prison Needle Exchange Program (PNEP) in federal institutions across the country to help “prevent the sharing of needles among inmates and the spread of infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS and HCV.”
The union said the program is directly leading to overdose deaths, as inmates are using illicit drugs alone in their cells.
“Our hands are tied. A court decision gives inmates the right to access clean needles, but our members believe the solution is not simply providing inmates with an injection kit to keep in their cell at the expense of public safety and inmate rehabilitation,” Jeff Wilkins said, the union’s national president.
On Wednesday, during the correctional officers’ morning rounds, they found an unresponsive inmate in his cell. First aid was applied but the inmate was pronounced dead at 7:30 a.m.
The first death was seven days ago on Nov. 26 and has been attributed to fentanyl. The second death is still under investigation in terms of what drug caused the fatality.
The union also said the program is leading to more addiction issues for inmates, which they take with them when they are released.
“This second overdose at Mountain highlights the ineffectiveness of the PNEP program and shows that CSC has no intention of releasing inmates drug-free to the community,” said John Randle, the union’s Pacific region president.
“The tick-box approach by CSC falls on the backs of the public to continue to battle the opioids and crime wave plaguing our communities.”
Randle said the sheer amount of illicit drugs in federal institutions is “crazy” and is due to drones dropping drugs onto properties. He said the union feels like federal institutions are acting more like “warehouses” and are failing at the rehabilitation process for inmates.
Global News has reached out to the Correctional Service of Canada for comment.
