Prison reform group wants syringes distributed

The Irish Penal Reform Trust has called on the Prison Service to supply clean syringes to prisoners who use drugs intravenously.

The trust said such a move would help fight the spread of Hepatitis C in Irish jails.

A recent report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction said the EU was facing a hidden epidemic of Hepatitis C among prison inmates.

Rick Lines, a spokesman for the Irish Penal Reform Trust, said: “We’d like to see the Irish Prison Service look at pilot-testing syringe distribution programmes as are currently operating in more than 40 prisons in six different countries.

This has clearly been identified by the World Health Organisation and others as best practice in preventing both Hepatitis C and HIV transmission amongst injecting drug users in prison.”