Awareness training for prisoners and prison wardens |06 November 2017

Prison wardens, prisoners along with other partners of the Seychelles Prison Services (SPS) have discussed the need to introduce a harm reduction approach in prison.

This was done during a half day workshop held at the Savoy Resort on Friday under the title ‘Advocacy for change’. It was organised by the HIV Aids Support Organisation (Haso).

It is part of Haso’s advocate on the introduction of training on harm reduction in prisons to support their vision of seeing a Seychelles without any new cases of HIV infection.

Seychelles prison is not isolated when it comes to issues and challenges that prison authorities are facing with increasing problems of illegal drug use and other risk behaviour that can be detrimental to prisoners’ health.

Therefore the prison wardens are vulnerable to most of the diseases to which prisoners are at risk just like any other prison in the world.

With a current population of 429 inmates where 100 of them have communicable disease, it shows that 23% of the prison population which is on record has mostly HIV and Hepatitis C.

Cases have been reported where one goes to prison with no known disease, but when one comes out one is infected.

During the workshop various presentations were led on the function of Haso, the function of the prison, the link between probation and prison, benefits of harm reduction in prison, the local situation and the legal environment assessment.

Haso chairperson Justin Freminot said the prison inmates are considered to be the most at risk population for infections.

“We want to give them the opportunity to control the communicable diseases at the prison as the figures that exist are alarming. The reality is they are sharing syringes and spreading diseases and our the aim is to allow them access to services which will reduce the risks,” he said.

Superintendent of prison Vic Tirant said this workshop will make those who work with the prison more aware and open minded to the current situation.

“It’s a first forum on harm reduction in the prison and it will allow them to have a better understanding and to easily accept the elements which might be introduced in the system,” he said.

He said the majority of the prison population are drug users with a high percentage being injection drug users and they are re-using and sharing the needles, having unprotected sexual encounters among other risky behaviour.

“I think it is time that we as prisons, in fact as a nation, accept that despite all our efforts to raise awareness, there are still people who will continue to use drugs and have multiple sex partners and to accept that the more we try to hide it the more we are allowing them to expose themselves to the infections,” he said.

Mr Tirant also noted the importance of bringing down the wall of secrecy which has incarcerated many of their clients.

“By accepting that we have many of our clients engaging in risky behaviour and by finding ways to help them reduce the harm we are bringing much good to them and society,” he said.

He also commended Haso for taking such a proactive role to organise this workshop for the prison staff and five of their clients, who will act as peer educators to others in their residential units.