Warning over side-effects of prison smoking ban

A smoking ban in prisons will create a new black market for tobacco among inmates and compound problems of bullying, violence, smuggling and corruption, it was claimed today.

With prison officers calling for jails to be smoke-free, the Irish Penal Reform Trust said it would cause more problems than it would solve.

Rick Lines, IPRT executive director, said cigarettes would become yet another valuable currency for convicts.

“A smoking ban won’t stop prisoners from lighting up. But it will create yet another black market within the prison, a market characterised by the same types of bullying, violence, smuggling and corruption created by other illegal drugs,” said Mr Lines.

The IPRT noted that in California, an 11 tin of tobacco sells on the prison black market for up to 200.

In some US prisons, contraband cigarettes have been reported as selling for up to 8 each. In Indiana, the delay in prisoners’ release dates as a result of cigarette violations has been estimated to cost the State as much as 6.6 million a year.

Prisoners can smoke almost anywhere in jail, apart from the visiting areas and the gym.

Officers from St Patrick’s Institution in Dublin, which deals with young offenders, say both they and the inmates are being exposed to carcinogens but are also being treated differently and unequally from their fellow citizens.

The Prison Officers Association voted at their annual conference in Killarney to challenge the constitutionality of the smoking ban which has not been applied to prisons or psychiatric units.

Nigel Mallen, POA spokesman, said his colleagues are being forced to accept lesser health and safety standards than other workers leaving them at risk of serious illness and even fatal diseases.

“It’s quite incredible that the health of prison officers and indeed prisoners is being threatened by environmental smoke and nothing is being done about it,” the POA’s health and safety co-ordinator said.

“The WHO has decreed that that ETS carries cancer causing agents – and yet this well established fact is being ignored.”

The POA called on the Justice Minister Michael McDowell to introduce a comprehensive smoking ban in prisons so that all workers’ health can be protected.

“Prison Officers have a right to work in a smoke-free environment, just as non-smoking prisoners have a right to live in a smoke-free environment,” Mr Lines said.

“However, given that prisons are essentially the places of residence for prisoners during their sentences – places from which smokers are obviously not free to simply step outside for a cigarette – there needs to be special consideration made to balance the interests of smokers, non-smokers and prison workers.”

Mr Lines said he accepted that a sensible policy respecting the rights of prison staff and non-smoking prisoners was needed, it could easily be accomplished without creating the security and violence problems associated with outright prohibition.