On Monday June 28th 2010, Corrections Minister Judith Collins publicly announced that there will be a smoking ban enforced in all prisons as of 1st July 2011. The main reason for this ban is to protect the health and safety of prison staff and the non smoking inmates from second-hand smoke. This caused a lot of controversy throughout the parties and people of New Zealand. I am going to mainly focus on the reasons why smoking should be banned in prisons as I feel it will be a beneficial change in our society. I found numerous articles from people that strongly opposed to the new law and they have some very valid points that I will also discuss.
Prisoners have until July 1st next year to quit their smoking addictions. They have been given over a year warning and Corrections will also proceed to put in place a 12 month campaign to assist the prisoners in kicking their habit. Throughout this period, nicotine patches will be available and inmates will have access to education and support to help with addiction. Lighters and matches will also be banned as they are currently being used in an inappropriate manner such as setting fires and melting plastic into weapons. The main reason for this new law is to improve the safety and health of the prison staff and other non smoking inmates. In the video announcement, Judith Collins states that American studies show that the air quality in prisons is 12% worse than the air quality in a smoker’s home. This is due to the number of smokers in prisons and the environment. This poor air quality is unfair to the prison staff and non smoking inmates as they have to inhale this air on a daily basis causing concern for their health. Research from an article by Tobacco Control states that half of those who smoke will die from a tobacco related illness and evidence exists that prisoners die from smoking related cancers at higher rates than the general community. This shows that there will also be obvious health benefits for the smokers themselves. It is estimated that approximately two thirds of inmates smoke, which is almost three times more compared to society as a whole. The article also says that diseases caused by passive smoking (secondhand smoke) are similar to those of mainstream smoking, therefore the staff and non smoking inmate’s health are in fact, put at risk.
There has been a lot of debate about what happened in other countries when there was a smoking ban enforced in the prisons. Canada and some Australian states have a full smoking ban in prisons and there has been an overall positive response hence why the ban is still in place. Prisons in other countries that don’t have a smoking ban are trying to give New Zealand a sound warning about what will happen when the smoking ban kicks in. The inmates are expected to start fires, become more violent and make threats against the prison guards demanding cigarettes. A NZ prison guard then anonymously stepped forward and stated that the threats are just a routine act put on by the inmates in order to get what they want. He says that inmates are always going to complain and make threats such as setting their cell on fire at 2am in the morning because they known 10 officers will come running and move him to a new room with new blankets. He finished by saying "The inmates have talked about fights and so forth. So what? They're going to fight anyway.”
Another negative effect that people are concerned about when the smoking ban starts is that black market cigarette trading will foster in the prisons. There have been predictions that there will be corruption among prison staff who will smuggle in cigarettes and sell them to the inmates in order to increase their income. This is another false fact as the security in prisons will become tougher, especially on cigarettes, so the prison staff will not bother taking the risk of smuggling them in. Black market trading inside the prison walls shouldn’t be looked as a concern for the ban as there is already black market trading for numerous illegal items.
Alcohol is also a banned substance inside prisons so making prisons smoke free is not much different to them already being alcohol free. New prisoners addicted to alcohol have had to deal with the shakes and withdrawal symptoms because they could not drink and giving up cigarettes is the same.
I believe that the health and safety of prison staff and non smoking inmates is more important than allowing prisoners their daily hit of tobacco. A recent public poll showed that 75% of the people in NZ agree that smoking should also be banned in prisons. The solution for prisoners is simple: If you want to keep smoking, then stop breaking the law!
References
Belcher, J., Butler, T., Richmond, R., Wilhelm, K., Wodak, A. (2007). Should smoking be banned in prisons? Tob Control 2007; 16(5): 291–293. doi: 10.1136/tc.2007.021600
Dickison, M. (2010, July 2). Ban would improve prison safety – guard. The NZ herald. Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10655968
NZ Herald (2010, June 28). Judith Collins on smoking ban. Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/video.cfm?c_id=1&gal_cid=1&gallery_id=112277
Should NZ prisons be smoke-free?. )2010, June 28). The NZ herald. Retrieved from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10654970
Smoking ban. (n.d). In Wikipedia. Retrieved September 1, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_ban#Effects_of_prison_smoking_bans
