Australia: NSW Prisoners to be Banned from Smoking

Source from:  The Sydney Morning Herald  09/30/2013

Smoking in all NSW prisons is set to be banned within 18 months after the state's prison boss expressed his concern about the health effects lighting up in jails is having on staff and inmates.

But the prison officers union said NSW risks becoming the last state to outlaw cigarettes in jails and has written to the government for funding to help inmates and staff shake the habit.

Britain's Justice Ministry announced plans last week for a pilot scheme to monitor how inmates react to a similar move there. If the trial is successful, the ban would be rolled out across all prisons.

Two NSW prisons, at Lithgow and Cessnock, have run trials banning smoking within cells and other buildings, but inmates and staff can still smoke outdoors.

Corrective Services Commissioner Peter Severin said those trials have worked ''but it's only getting us halfway there''. He wants the grounds of all NSW jails to be smoke-free environments.

''We are very clearly working on it,'' Mr Severin said.

''It is clearly a workplace health and safety issue but it is complex. It will be a significant shift: 80 per cent of inmates are smokers and it will be equally as challenging for staff as it is for inmates.''

For the first time he has publicly stated a timeframe for such a ban.

''I know that there are issues raised about civil liberties, but for me it's a health issue,'' he said. ''It's about preventing passive smoking for staff and other inmates.

The NSW Cancer Council says the prisoner smoking rate of 80 per cent makes it the highest of any distinct population group in NSW. Currently prisoners are allowed to smoke in their cells or in a designated smoking area outside.

A survey in 2009 however found that a large majority of prisoners who smoke wanted to quit.

In New Zealand it has been a ''smooth transition'' from 67 per cent of the prison population previously smoking to it being a smoke-free environment.

South Australia and Tasmania have pledged to have smoke-free jails by 2015.

Prison Officers Vocational Branch senior industrial officer Stewart Little said with no fixed date announced by the state government it was likely NSW would become the last jurisdiction to ban smoking in jails.

He said any ban would need a 12-month lead-in period where prisoners were given access to patches and medical treatments.

He wrote to NSW Justice Minister Greg Smith asking for funding for that treatment. ''It's a health problem and it should be treated as such and it requires adequate funding and resources,'' he said.

A spokeswoman for Mr Smith said making all prisons smoke-free is a major step, requiring careful planning.

''Corrective Services are working with staff, unions, Justice Health and other stakeholders,'' she said. Enditem