A DECISION to ban smoking in jails across England and Wales has been
described as a breach of human rights amid fears that it could spark
riots.
Currently, inmates are allowed to smoke in their own cells and in
some prison exercise yards but a total ban on smoking will be trialled
in the south west next spring followed by a roll-out across all jails.
Richard Ford, home correspondent for The Times,
warns that the ban could spark riots. "It has the potential to
destabilise prisons, where being able to enjoy a cigarette helps
prisoners through the boredom of their sentences," he says. "About 80
per cent of the 84,300 inmates smoke and tobacco is a valuable currency
that is traded on the wings."
The rule change comes amid fears that the Prison Service could face
compensation claims from prison officers who say they are victims of
passive smoking.
Steve Gillan, general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association,
has welcomed the move to have smoke-free prisons for his members but
admits that introducing the ban will be difficult. "There is no
pretending otherwise.
It could cause disturbances," he says. But he points out that it has
been successful in Canada and in young offender institutions in England
and Wales.
Andrew Neilson, from campaign charity The Howard League for Penal
Reform, thinks a ban would be difficult to enforce when prisons are
already going through "unprecedented" cuts to their budgets and staff
resources.
"There may well be good intentions behind this policy proposal," he told BBC News. "But it will undoubtedly put a lot of pressure on jails which are already pretty stretched."
He added that there could be a short-term damaging effect on the mental health of prisoners "who are often very distressed".
On Radio 4's Today
programme, John Humphrys said it could be a "brilliant" plan. "The idea
that you can't smoke if you're a heavy smoker - that's a real deterrent
to doing something that will land you in jail isn't it?"
But his guests disagreed. Ben Gunn, who spent 32 years in prison,
said: "By and large, criminality isn't a rational, calculated choice,
it's desperate people doing desperate acts."
Gunn - a self-confessed "50-a-day man" - describes it as a "purely
vindictive, petty, small-minded policy". The only positive, he says, is
that it might incense prisoners into thinking more politically - for
example, forming a prisoners' union and having a greater say in penal
reform.
