Syringe Exchange Programmes (PIJ)in the Albocàsser and Picassent Prisons (Valencia)(Completed in 2022)

This programme began in 2005 at the Valencia Prison (Picassent) and was later extended to the Castellón II Prison (Albocàsser). It is currently funded by the Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare.

Syringe Exchange Programmes (PIJ) are harm reduction programmes established to prevent the transmission of diseases among people who inject drugs (UDIs) through the sharing of injecting equipment, and they have become essential in any harm reduction strategy for people with drug addiction. People deprived of liberty are entitled to the same treatments and prevention programmes available outside; for this reason, offering this type of programme is essential, since it is not only a purely health-related strategy for preventing infectious diseases such as HIV or HCV, but also an opportunity to educate them in healthy habits and bring them closer to the health system and to drug addiction treatment.

The programme works to eliminate or reduce the stigma and discrimination associated with drug use and HIV through a syringe exchange programme (PIJ) and information activities carried out within the prison setting, aimed both at programme participants and at prison professionals and staff, always with the prior authorisation of the prison management.

The actions carried out for this purpose are:

• Providing prison professionals with information on the definition, objectives and activities of the PIJ.
• Opening spaces for dialogue with the different professionals involved to address aspects that may amount to discriminatory or stigmatising actions.
• Providing service users with accurate and reliable information on HIV and on the importance of being diagnosed and treated, always respecting their own pace and decisions.
• Offering safer consumption alternatives and providing the material needed to carry out these practices hygienically, minimising risks.