Release Date
Geography
Language of Resource
Full Text Available
Open Access / OK to Reproduce
Peer Reviewed
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)