Hard Time Persists: Healthcare and Harm Reduction in Canada’s Prison System
Hard Time Persists – Moving Forward
Everyone benefits from improved healthcare in prison and imprisonment is not a justification for the denial of healthcare. Gaps in policy and practice in the provision of healthcare in prison settings fuels the transmission of HIV, hepatitis C (HCV), sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs), and other harms in prison and beyond.
Until these gaps – which are particularly pronounced for Indigenous people, racialized people, gender-diverse people, and women – are addressed, STBBIs will pervade throughout the country. Prison and health authorities must act to promote and protect the health of all people, irrespective of their legal status.