Time for Change Survey and Report

24 ● Gender-diverse people showed significantly more support for NSPs in prisons compared to female-identifying respondents. The difference between gender-diverse individuals and male-identifying people approached significance. ● Support was lower among family members of people who use drugs when compared to respondents who did not identify this way, and among Queenslanders compared to residents of other states/territories. Figure 7. Agreeance with establishing needle and syringe programs (NSP) in prisons Recommendation #6 We recommend that Australian governments at the federal and state/territory levels must (a) meet their obligations at domestic and international law in relation to ensuring all people who are incarcerated have access to an equivalent standard of health as the general community, and (b) take all necessary steps to implement NSPs in prisons as a matter of urgency. People also highlighted the necessity of harm reduction for people in custodial settings: “I would love to see a NSP within the prisons. I work within the prisons and with people on parole as a[n] AOD counsellor and there are way too many drug related deaths, and the rates of Hep C and HIV are higher than ever. People in prison struggle to get treatment for Hep C and if they do, they often become re-infected quickly due to there being no NSP within the walls of a prison. It is an awful cycle, how are they expected to succeed and rehabilitate when their environment is so damaging and they aren't getting the right equipment or care?” “At least allow NSP's in prisons!! The Australian peer drug user[s] has been asking for prison NSP's for the last 20 years! It would save the Australian government millions in HCV. HBV and HIV treatments and medication. The evidence from overseas countries with NSP's in prisons, already proves the financial value.”