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Nurses have voiced their opposition to a proposed needle exchange scheme in Canberra's prison.
The ACT Government wants to allow doctors to issue detainees in the Alexander Maconochie Centre with clean syringes in exchange for used ones.
In a submission to the Government's prison blood-borne virus management strategy, the federation said it had consulted its members and would oppose the needle exchange.
Australian Nursing Federation spokeswoman Jenny Miragaya says a survey of its members found 49 per cent supported a syringe program in the jail.
But she say 53 per cent opposed the one-for-one model being proposed by the Government.
"Their concerns feel that there's no great control over what happens to those needles and syringes once they've been exchanged with the doctor," she said.
"They're not being disposed of, they can be re-used on a number of occasions, you don't have control over them so you could still have the transmission of blood borne viruses. So it really wouldn't make a great deal of difference in that respect."
The Community and Public Sector Union, which represents prison officers, is also opposed to a needle exchange.
Topics: prisons-and-punishment, drug-use, act, canberra-2600
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