An ACT Supreme Court judge has told a court a prison needle exchange "would do much to resolve" the spread of infection among inmates who used shared syringes to inject drugs behind bars.
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Justice Richard Refshauge spoke of the risks for drug users as he handed down a sentence for a convicted child sex offender, with a long history of drug and alcohol abuse, who contracted Hepatitis C while on remand at the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had pleaded guilty to raping his then-partner's younger sister and committing seven acts of indecency on the same girl between 2011 and 2014.
The court heard the man's leg was broken in three places when the girl's father and brother allegedly bashed him after they learned of the ongoing abuse, which began when the child was 11.
He was also sentenced for a 2014 aggravated robbery in which he choked a man in Chifley, stole his mobile phone and sold it for $70 at Cash Converters before he used that money to buy cannabis.
In handing down his sentence, Justice Refshauge said the man had been exposed to drugs and alcohol from an early age.
He drank a case of beer every night by the time he was 16 and had smoked between $20 and $100 worth of cannabis a day at the time of his arrest, the court heard.
Justice Refshauge said the offender had also smoked ice since he was 14 and began injecting the drug in custody.
"He injected ice daily for the first 12 months of his incarceration but contracted Hepatitis C, obviously from sharing needles, a common cause of such infection."
Justice Refshauge said that was "a problem in correctional institutions which a prison needle exchange would do much to resolve."
The offender was sentenced to five years and five months imprisonment and will be eligible for parole in December 2017. He was marked a prisoner at risk.
Justice Refshauge's remarks came two weeks after guards at the ACT's jail voted overwhelmingly against a needle exchange, a move that was described as "bitterly disappointing" by Justice Minister Shane Rattenbury and public health advocates.
The guards, who opposed the plan as dangerous and unworkable, voted down the scheme 151 to four, following more than a year of consultation and negotiations.
The needle exchange was designed to prevent inmates from sharing and using dirty needles behind bars in an effort to curb transmission of hepatitis and other blood-borne diseases.
Public Health Association of Australia chief executive officer Michael Moore at the time signalled he would consider legal action to try to force the government to implement a needle exchange at the AMC.
"We know a number of people have become Hepatitis C positive at the jail. We know exactly how this could have been prevented."
