Dozens of correctional officers staged a protest outside the Grand Valley Institution for Women on Monday, calling attention to a new program which will establish a needle exchange program for prison inmates.

“Everybody’s shocked that we’re going to have this pilot program here,” said Matt McLaren, a correctional officer who also heads up the prison’s local chapter of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO).

The federal government announced last month that Grand Valley was one of two sites selected to test the prison, which could be rolled out to facilities across Canada as soon as 2019.

The program’s aim is to limit the transmission of diseases like HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C, which prisoners experience at a significantly higher rate than Canadians in general.

According to the union, the test at Grand Valley was scheduled to start on Monday but was delayed for one week because of preparedness issues.

Some prison guards say they are concerned about what they could face if inmates are given access to needles – particularly because, as they understand it, they will be able to have the needles in their cells.

“It’s just another tool for them to be able to use against us. It’s another weapon,” said Michelle Lombardo.

“The biggest issue for us is our own safety.”

The needle exchange program will be administered by health services workers, not correctional officers. It is the first program of its kind in North America, although similar programs have been instituted in some European countries. In those countries, inmates in the programs have become more likely to access drug treatment assistance, and no increases in violence have been reported.

“These programs have been proven to work. They protect prisoners’ health,” Sandra Chu, director of research and advocacy for the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, said in an interview.

According to Chu, similar programs have also led to reduced HIV/AIDS rates and decreased risk of drug overdose in inmates, while protecting correctional officers by making it less likely they will encounter a needle that has been shared by multiple prisoners.

“It’s actually one of the most cost-effective health measures they can provide to prisoners who inject drugs,” she said.

Another concern for the workers protesting outside the prison on Monday is the sending of mixed messages. McLaren noted that the facility has a zero-tolerance policy for drugs “but we’re giving them a tool to use to do just that.”

Jason Godin, the national president of the union, said the “moral and ethical issues” extend past that particular dilemma.

“We feel it’s our responsibility to slowly get inmates off of drugs, because part of our job is to rehabilitate offenders,” he said.

“We’re dead-set against this program.”

According to Godin, there has been one needle belonging to an inmate found at GVI in the past 20 years.

With reporting by Nicole Lampa