JUSTICE TRENDS JUSTICE TRENDS Nr. 1 | June 2017 | Page 115

BEST PRACTICES / MEJORES PRÁCTICAS
JT: Although Portugal is considered a shining example in this
area for the work that has already been described throughout
this interview, not all battles have been won and there are some
measures – such as the exchange of needles in prisons – that
haven’t led to the desired success yet.
Do you agree with this conclusion? What other aspects have
fallen short regarding the change plan that was originally
intended to be implemented? .......................................
JG: The needles’ exchange in prisons is one of the measures
that, in practice, doesn’t work, and it doesn’t work because of the
model that has been found – which, by the way, was laboriously
negotiated between all the partners – [as for the partners involved,
I am thinking, for example, of the prison guards, they’re impor-
tant partners in such policies]… They have invoked and they still
claim that the needles’ exchange program in prisons represents a
risk to the guards themselves and thus to their personal physical
safety. They seem to be little sensitive to the idea that decreasing
the population of potentially infected syringes by replacing them
with sterile ones would automatically decrease the likelihood of
such a risk. The needles can be used as weapons – hence the model
found for the exchange of needles in prisons entails the inmate’s
self–disclosure to prison health professionals and it has to be
through these health services that they can access new needles...
Given this reality, in practice, [no inmate] takes the risk, because
his/her self–delusion – at least in his or her imaginary – may have
consequences at the level of small privileges, such as precarious
exits, basically, any special treatment they might have inside the
prison. Therefore they prefer not to refer themselves as injecting
drug users, and naturally they continue to access needles via the
routes they used before and, in many cases, through sharing needles.
However the studies that we carry out in prisons – in collaboration
with the General Directorate of Reinsertion and Prison Services –
show that the injecting drug use has been falling very significantly
over the years.
JT: What role does the Intervention Service in Addiction
Behaviors and Dependencies (SICAD) play within the Portuguese
prison system?.............. ...........................................
JG: The organizational model of the responses, in the Portuguese
Ministry of Health, directed at this issue is, presently, different
from what it was a few years ago. We had the Institute for Drugs
and Drug Addiction (IDT) – which had the capacity to think and
harmonize policies with various ministries and then to implement
them in the field of Health, directly on the field through local
intervention units who worked closely with the Prison Services.
Today, the design is different: SICAD is a Directorate–General.
los recursos y que esta parte ha sido directamente asignada a la
Salud. En el sector salud, poco a poco, hubo creciente y que nos
permitió incrementar y solidificar una red de atención que hoy es
muy sólida y capaz de satisfacer las necesidades de los ciudadanos.
JT: Aunque Portugal sea considerado un modelo en esta área,
por todo el trabajo que ya se ha descrito, no todas las batallas han
sido ganadas y hay algunas medidas – como el intercambio de
agujas en las cárceles – que no habrán tenido el deseado éxito.
¿Está de acuerdo con esta conclusión? ¿Qué otros
aspectos se han quedado cortos con respecto al plan de
cambio que originalmente se pretendía implementar?
JG: El intercambio de agujas en las prisiones es una de las medidas
que, en la práctica, no funciona, y no funciona porque el modelo que
se ha encontrado –que, por cierto, fue laboriosamente negociado
entre todos los socio s– [como para los socios involucrados, estoy
pensando, por ejemplo, en los guardias carcelarios, son socios
importantes en esas políticas]... Han invocado y todavía afirman que
el programa de intercambio de agujas en las cárceles representa
un riesgo para los propios guardias, a su seguridad física
personal. Parecen poco sensibles a la idea de que la disminución
de jeringuillas potencialmente infectadas reemplazándolas por
estériles disminuiría automáticamente la probabilidad de tal
riesgo, de que las agujas se pudieran utilizar como armas – de
ahí el modelo encontrado para el intercambio de jeringuillas en
las cárceles implica la revelación del recluso a los profesionales de
la salud penitenciaria y tiene que ser a través de estos servicios de
salud que puedan acceder a las agujas nuevas... Dada esta realidad,
en la práctica, ningún [recluso] asume el riesgo; su autoengaño – al
menos en su imaginario – podría tener consecuencias a nivel de
pequeños privilegios, como salidas precarias, como, por último,
cualquier trato especial que puedan tener dentro de la cárcel – y