“They’re Just Watching You All the Time”: The Surveillance Web of Prison Needle Exchange

Original research
by
Michaud, Liam & Emily van der Meulen

Release Date

2023

Geography

Canada

Language of Resource

English

Full Text Available

Yes

Open Access / OK to Reproduce

Yes

Peer Reviewed

Yes

Objective

We examine surveillant functions of the Prison Needle Exchange Programs (PNEPs) through the first-hand experiences of thirty former prisoners who were incarcerated at one of the prisons with such a program.

Findings/Key points

As a whole, the PNEP model implemented in Canada, and the practices that undergird it, target people who use drugs for increased surveillance, resulting in extremely low rates of program enrollment despite pervasive drug use in prison, and undermining access to an essential health care service to which prisoners are entitled. The study findings point to novel forms of carceral surveillance that enmesh observational, technological, and bureaucratic practices, and demonstrate how prisoner health and therapeutic objectives can be subsumed by securitarian logics.

Design/methods

Interviews (n=30)

Keywords

Legal system/law enforcement
About PWUD
Harm reduction
Barriers and enablers