Pubdate: Thu, 01 Mar 2007
Source: Kingston Whig-Standard (CN ON)
Page: 7
Copyright: 2007 The Kingston Whig-Standard
Contact:  http://www.kingstonwhigstandard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/224
Author: Jennifer Pritchett, Whig-Standard Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?137 (Needle Exchange)

INQUEST FOCUSES ON NEEDLE PROGRAM

Dirty Syringe May Have Led To Inmate's Death

A coroner's inquest into the death of an inmate at Kingston 
Penitentiary has revisited the notion of a national needle-exchange 
program in Canadian prisons.

Chris Olinskie died Jan. 7, 2006, from an infection in his blood 
believed to have been caused by a dirty needle. A known intravenous 
drug user, he was found lying face down and unresponsive in his cell 
10 days prior to his death.

The 30-year-old was taken by ambulance to Kingston General Hospital, 
where he eventually died.

Yesterday, the inquest into his death heard that Olinskie had been 
strip-searched a month before he fell ill and prison staff found a 
quantity of morphine pills, a prisoner-made weapon commonly called a 
shank and a homemade syringe concealed between his buttocks.

Though no witness has linked the homemade syringe seized on Nov. 28, 
2005, to the infection that killed Olinskie, his known drug use and 
cause of death made the issue of a needle-exchange program in prisons 
somewhat of a focal point of the first two days of proceedings.

Yesterday, Miguel Costa, the Corrections Canada security and 
intelligence officer who seized the makeshift syringe from Olinskie 
in 2005, said prisoners fashion crude instruments to shoot drugs out 
of, including pens, eye droppers and whatever materials they can 
access because real needles are difficult to find inside the confines 
of a prison.

Introducing more needles into the prison by way of a needle-exchange 
program, he said, would pose increased risks for staff and inmates.

"I understand the prospective of health care [personnel] and the need 
for harm reduction for inmates," he said. "However, there's a 
significant security concern where syringes are present in an institution."

Under questioning from Brian Callender, the lawyer for Olinskie's 
family, Costa said that allowing prisoners to use syringes, even in a 
controlled environment, would make it too difficult for staff to 
prevent those needles from ending up in the general population of the prison.

"The security required to ensure that the syringes didn't end up in 
the general population would be significant," he said.

Costa also spoke of a program in place at Kingston Penitentiary in 
which inmates are given bleach to kill bacteria on needles in an 
effort to reduce infection rates.

The inquest heard yesterday that six bleach bottles were found in 
Olinskie's cell after he died.

The issue of introducing a national needle-exchange program in 
Canadian prisons has been raised in the past.

While the Canadian Medical Association has supported it, the union 
for prison guards and Corrections Canada has not.

On the first day of the Olinskie inquest, Kingston Penitentiary 
doctor Allen McBride testified drug use among inmates has been a 
long-standing problem in the prison system seems to be getting worse.

"What we have here is a case where it led to a tragic end," he told 
the inquest.

McBride said that he agreed with the findings of a Canadian Medical 
Association report that said the introduction of a needle-exchange 
program would reduce the risk of infection.

A Coroner inquests is mandated by the province to take place whenever 
somebody dies while in custody. The purpose is to determine the 
manner in which the deceased died and the circumstances leading up to 
it. Members of an inquest jury may also make recommendations to the 
government that might help prevent similar deaths in the future.

The inquest adjourned yesterday until the next date can be scheduled.
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