On Wednesday, advocates of needle exchanges said that rates of HIV infection in Central jails competes that of many nations in Africa.

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network pointed out on the reports released by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) earlier this month, which revealed that the rate of HIV infection in central prisons is 15 times more than among non-incarcerated Canadians and the incidence rate equals those of several sub-Saharan Africa nations.

The network said that the rate of hepatitis C infection in central prisons was 31%, 39 times more than for the common populace.

Sandra Ka Hon Chu, Senior Policy Analyst at the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, stated, "About half the prisoners surveyed reported sharing used needles or syringes to inject drugs, and about one third reported sharing a needle with someone who has HIV, hepatitis C or unknown infection status”.

The CSC was asked by Greg Simmons, prisoners' representative for the Canadian Treatment Action Council, to let jailbirds to regain medications once imprisoned and alter the method in which pharmacies in central jails supervise and order medicines.

It is said that the report by CSC was based on a self- controlled questionnaire to 3,370 prisoners in 2007, who were questioned about communicable viruses and habits like using injection drugs and unprotected sex.