To think prisoners shouldn't be allowed to smoke?

[angelos02]

In the new today it said there is a pilot about to be done in some prisons to not allow prisoners to smoke. I think this is fair. People that haven't broken the law can't smoke at work, in pubs, cafes, shops etc so why should criminals be allowed?

[MrsLion]

How does she behave?

[MiniMonty]

Baby - I'd love to lock you up....

[MiniMonty]

Put the OP in any UK women's prison cell (six by ten feet) sharing with another inmate.
Leave her in there for 23 hours a day.
Three months.
Give her nothing (because all prisoners get exactly nothing) for the first three months.
Then give her a packet of smokes and look in, watch and see how she behaves...

LOL to this idiocy, this naivety is disgusting to witness.

[passedgo]

Cigarettes are little more than a form of currency in prisons. They are part of a bartering system which keeps their hierarchy and pecking order working. They probably do it because they aren't given enough other things t;o keep them occupied. The Norwegian prisons sound as though they have got it right, they simply BORE them into rehabilitation.

Anyway, nobody ever died from not smoking.

[Talkinpeace]

e-cigarette : expensive and ideal weapons

[Lazysuzanne]

what about those e-cigarette things...could they be made available instead?

[Talkinpeace]

Give them all hash brownies.
Stoned prisoners are much easier to manage and hash brownies do not cause passive smoking.

[MrsLion]

No I would hate that job and I'm very fortunate I don't have to do it. I have an enormous amount of sympathy for people who's lives are in danger at work.

People generally don't become violent from giving up smoking.
Prisoners are violent because they are violent people.

Alcoholic prisoners are not allowed to drink. Drug addicts are not allowed to shoot up. There are systems in place to manage this- tobacco is no different.

[nennypops]

But don't you have sympathy for warders having to deal with potentially violent extremely stressed people who have been forced to give up? Is it a job you would like?

[MrsLion]

Firstly, the time of being arrested to getting banged up is not immediate it can take months. Also, how do you know they don't get time to give up too?

And tbh, except for the very small minority of prisoners who are innocent or have harsh sentences for something minor I really don't have much sympathy for criminals being forced to give up smoking.

[nennypops]

But there are very few alternative situations in which people who have to give up smoking have to do it on a completely cold turkey basis, and none where they have just gone through all the stress of a trial and are now being banged up 22 hours a day sharing a cell with a couple of thugs and an open WC, hundreds of miles away from their families.

[MrsLion]

Still don't see the problem really.

People have to give up smoking in all sorts of different circumstances, I really don't see why criminals should be given preferential treatment.

[nennypops]

But people who have just been sentenced in NZ don't have a year to give up, do they? Forcing potentially violent and/or extremely stressed people to go cold turkey is both unnecessary and a recipe for trouble. The punishment is losing liberty, there is no need for extra punishment.

[MrsLion]

Smoking has been banned in NZ prisons since 2011. Prisoners were informed, then had a year to give up.

I don't see the problem tbh.

Yes prison is rehabilitation, but it's also supposed to be a punishment and deterrent.

[SaskiaRembrandtVampireHunter]

Maryann1975 my son is a serving soldier (ie: not a veteran), I am aware of how bad some of the accommodation is. However, it is still not comparable to being in prison. Going outside to have a smoke is no different to what students living in halls, or nurses living in hospital accommodation have to do.

[ilovesooty]

I'm more concerned about the drugs trade inside prisons than I am the quite legal habit of smoking

So am I. It is not unknown for people to go to prison clean and come out addicted.

[ilovesooty]

How does deprivation of nicotine really rank alongside all the other vagaries of existence in prison ?

I could try asking my service users but I think I know the answer.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

Yabu and boring.

I'm more concerned about the drugs trade inside prisons than I am the quite legal habit of smoking.

[cumfy]

It just seems like a distraction to me.

How does deprivation of nicotine really rank alongside all the other vagaries of existence in prison ?

[lljkk]

Actually, I would really like prisons to be about rehabilitation & reform. Radical heretical impossible thoughts, I know, I know.

[AlannaPartridge]

Oh, really, Cumfy? So on top of everything else, they are forced to give up smoking whether they like it or not - just because you think it's "healthier"?

Going to prison is the punishment - not what happens once you're in there.

[ilovesooty]

I'm sure the prisoners will see it that way
cumfy

And what about the ones on remand?

[cumfy]

Prisoners are deprived of freedom, their own clothes, alcohol, sex and their dignity.

Depriving them of tobacco is a far, far more positive, healthy and humane measure than the above.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

As someone who has worked with ex-offenders, done prison interviews, volunteered in prisons and spent a good deal of time in them, can I ask that people who haven't stop with the bollocks about 'Butlins' and 'holiday camps'.

Self-harm, suicide, bullying, MH issues, personality disorders, missing family, not seeing your children every day, assaults, lack of freedom, lack of privacy, loneliness, fear, loss of sense of self... this is the reality. Even in 'cushy' prisons.

I wouldn't want to be in prison, even with a TV and fags.