Volume 197 - Issue 7
Harm minimisation in Australian prisons — health protection still depends on where you serve your time
Authors: Michael H Levy and Carla Treloar
Med J Aust 2012; 197 (7): 382. || doi: 10.5694/mja12.10228
Published online: 1 October 2012
Published online: 1 October 2012
To the Editor: In June 2007 we highlighted the inconsistent application of community-accepted harm minimisation strategies, when offered to prisoners, among the various Australian jurisdictions.1
We sought information from the eight prisoner health services to assess how harm minimisation strategies were being implemented in each jurisdiction (Box).
Progress has been slow, particularly in Queensland and the Northern Territory. The positive progress, however, has been the trial of condom ...
To the Editor: In June 2007 we highlighted the inconsistent application of community-accepted harm minimisation strategies, when offered to prisoners, among the various Australian jurisdictions.1
We sought information from the eight prisoner health services to assess how harm minimisation strategies were being implemented in each jurisdiction (Box).
Progress has been slow, particularly in Queensland and the Northern Territory. The positive progress, however, has been the trial of condom distribution in four Victorian prisons (not yet expanded, at the time of writing), the pharmacotherapy program in Victoria, and the introduction of buprenorphine in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania.
Regulated exchange of injecting equipment has not yet been achieved. There have been sustained (but unconfirmed) reports of “self-regulated” tattoo parlours in at least one NSW prison (personal communication with patients, 2010–2012). The ACT Government is actively engaging the community in a comprehensive strategy to manage bloodborne viruses at the Alexander Maconochie Centre.2 This would be the first substantive response by any jurisdiction to a 2008 national commitment of health and custodial authorities.3
Australia will adopt the United Nations Optional protocol to the convention against torture. This will bring international scrutiny to the nation’s commitment to the equivalence of services offered to Australian prisoners.4 On the health component of that commitment, we will be judged harshly.
Application of some harm-minimisation strategies in Australian prisons in 2012, by state and territory
Competing interests
No relevant disclosures.
References
- Levy MH, Treloar C, McDonald R, Booker N. Prisons, hepatitis C and harm minimisation. Med J Aust 2007; 186: 647-649. 0_BABHHDBB
- Push for free tattoos at ACT jail. Canberra Times 2011; 26 Nov. http://www.canberratimes.com. au/news/local/news/general/push-for-free-tattoos-at-act-jail/2371566.aspx (accessed Jan 2012).
- Ministerial Advisory Committee on AIDS, Sexual Health and Hepatitis; Hepatitis C Subcommittee. Hepatitis C prevention, treatment and care: guidelines for Australian custodial settings. Evidence base for the guidelines. Canberra: Department of Health and Ageing, 2008. http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/9F632131D38B580CCA257505007C1A70/$File/prison-guidelines-evidence.pdf (accessed Jan 2012).
- Australian Human Rights Commission. Commission welcomes steps towards better monitoring of places of detention. http://www.hreoc.gov.au/about/media/news/2012/18_12.html (accessed Aug 2012).