Mr. Speaker, in an April 15 memo, the commissioner for Canada's prisons ordered universal distribution of bleach kits for inmates.
Each inmate will now receive a bottle of bleach and instructions on how to properly clean needles and syringes used for injecting, tattooing and body piercing. This is ludicrous. Injection of illicit drugs is a Criminal Code offence. More, the commissioner's directive states that syringes and drug paraphernalia are prison contraband and, therefore, must be seized.
On one hand, the commission's office promotes a program which encourages inmates to break the law and on the other hand, the commissioner intends to arm prisons with bleach and needle usage, both potential weapons to be used against other inmates and prison staff.
Rank and file prison guards state the obvious. Either Correctional Service Canada bureaucrats are incompetent or they have lost complete and total control of the administration of Canada's prison system, or both.
There is a drug problem in Canadian prisons. Clearly, it is time to clean up corrections and end this ridiculous program.