diff --git a/src/PostgREST/Auth.hs b/src/PostgREST/Auth.hs
index f46da3c71..5cf3972e1 100644
--- a/src/PostgREST/Auth.hs
+++ b/src/PostgREST/Auth.hs
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ module PostgREST.Auth (
 import           Control.Monad           (join)
 import           Data.Aeson              (Value (..), Object)
 import           Data.Aeson.Types        (emptyObject, emptyArray)
+import qualified Data.ByteString         as BS
 import           Data.Vector             as V (null, head)
 import           Data.Map                as M (fromList, toList)
 import           Data.Monoid             ((<>))
@@ -38,12 +39,12 @@ import qualified Data.HashMap.Lazy       as H
   this one is mapped to a SET ROLE statement.
   In case there is any problem decoding the JWT it returns Nothing.
 -}
-claimsToSQL :: JWT.ClaimsMap -> [Text]
+claimsToSQL :: JWT.ClaimsMap -> [BS.ByteString]
 claimsToSQL = map setVar . toList
   where
     setVar ("role", String val) = setRole val
-    setVar (k, val) = "set local postgrest.claims." <> pgFmtIdent k <>
-                      " = " <> valueToVariable val <> ";"
+    setVar (k, val) = "set local postgrest.claims." <> cs (pgFmtIdent k) <>
+                      " = " <> cs (valueToVariable val) <> ";"
     valueToVariable = pgFmtLit . unquoted
 
 {-|
@@ -66,7 +67,7 @@ jwtClaims secret input time =
     customClaims = claim JWT.unregisteredClaims
 
 -- | Receives the name of a role and returns a SET ROLE statement
-setRole :: Text -> Text
+setRole :: Text -> BS.ByteString
 setRole role = "set local role " <> cs (pgFmtLit role) <> ";"
 
 
diff --git a/src/PostgREST/Middleware.hs b/src/PostgREST/Middleware.hs
index 9aee017f3..4292e261c 100644
--- a/src/PostgREST/Middleware.hs
+++ b/src/PostgREST/Middleware.hs
@@ -24,27 +24,25 @@ import           PostgREST.Error               (errResponse)
 
 import           Prelude hiding(concat)
 
-import qualified Data.Vector             as V
 import qualified Data.Map.Lazy           as M
 
-runWithClaims :: forall s. AppConfig -> NominalDiffTime ->
+runWithClaims :: AppConfig -> NominalDiffTime ->
                  (Request -> H.Session Response) ->
                  Request -> H.Session Response
 runWithClaims conf time app req = do
-    _ <- H.unitEx $ stmt setAnon
+    H.sql setAnon
     case split (== ' ') (cs auth) of
       ("Bearer" : tokenStr : _) ->
         case jwtClaims jwtSecret tokenStr time of
           Just claims ->
             if M.member "role" claims
             then do
-              mapM_ H.unitEx $ stmt <$> claimsToSQL claims
+              mapM_ H.sql $ claimsToSQL claims
               app req
             else invalidJWT
           _ -> invalidJWT
       _ -> app req
   where
-    stmt c = B.Stmt c V.empty True
     hdrs = requestHeaders req
     jwtSecret = configJwtSecret conf
     auth = fromMaybe "" $ lookup hAuthorization hdrs