Pilot project for safe tattooing practices at Cowansville Institution Available to Purchase

Under the framework of a pilot project for safe tattooing practices, Cowansville Institution officially opened the first tattoo parlor within a Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) facility on 1 August 2005. This project, which is a CSC partnership component under the Federal Initiative to address HIV/AIDS in Canada, will run for a year in six penitentiaries across the country. Cowansville Institution was selected as the pilot site in the Quebec Region. Since tattooing is a fact of prison life, unsafe tattooing practices increase the number of infections among inmates, which puts the entire population at risk. CSC is committed to reducing the transmission of infectious diseases within the inmate population and throughout the community by offering inmates this measure to reduce harm. It is first and foremost a public‐health issue. CSC must take into consideration all measures that could minimize the harm related to the transmission of infectious diseases and reduce the risk of infectious diseases.