UK: Smoke And Mirrors

Campaigners have urged the UK Government to tackle the problem of drugs and violent assaults in England’s prisons by amending the prison smoking ban and allowing designated smoking areas.
 

The call follows an announcement by prisons minister Rory Stewart on Friday that he will resign if the use of drugs and assaults do not fall in 10 problem jails.
 

In June, Stewart tweeted: ‘Delighted to confirm that we have just achieved one hundred per cent smoke free prisons’.
 

‘Incidents of self-harm and assaults in prisons are at record levels and the use of illegal drugs is rife, yet the government insists on banning tobacco, a legal product,’ said Simon Clark, director of the smokers’ group Forest.
 

‘Allowing prisoners to smoke might actually help address the far more serious problems Rory Stewart is trying to solve.
 

Clark said that by offering to resign if his program of reforms didn’t succeed, Stewart had shown himself to be an honourable politician.
 

But he also needs to be pragmatic and in the real world a substantial number of prisoners enjoy smoking, Clark added.
 

‘No-one should be surprised that if you take away one of their few pleasures there will be negative consequences.
 

‘We challenge Mr Stewart to test the theory by allowing designated smoking areas in half of the ten problem prisons he has chosen to target.
 

‘He can then compare one set of prisons against the other to see if permitting smoking makes any difference to the problem of drugs and violent assaults.’