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?

maybe the politions (bloody spelling) should go into the prison to supervise the smoke breaks

They shouldnt be allowed to have loads of gadgets in their cells
tthat is a myth, they don't.
not in HMp Swansea anyway.

really having your freedom taken away, having others decide when you shower, eat and can exercise, being locked in a cell for much of the day is not punishment enough

People that haven't broken the law can't smoke at work, in pubs, cafes, shops etc so why should criminals be allowed?

But people who have broken the law are not at work, in a pub, cafe or shop. They are in their home.

There's a lot of things I don't think prisoners should be allowed, in general I don't think prison is harsh enough, but I don't think taking away smoking from prisoners is a good idea.

I think more could be done to protect prison staff such as only allowing smoking outside or at certain times in certain spaces, but banning it all together will just make tempers flare and more problems will result.

I don't think the argument about a non smoker having to share a cell with a smoker holds any weight at all. If a non smoker doesn't want to share a cell with a smoker, they shouldn't have committed a crime.

Agree burberry. 'Prison is like a holiday camp' is something oft peddled by people who've never set foot inside one.

If the do make it so Prisinors cant smoke. I hope to god they are going to provide NRT and all the help and support needed.

I am a smoker ( wish i could give them up)

no all people who are in prison went out to intentionally break the law and hurt others not everyone who is in prison is a bad person

though i think very few people are bad people there are reasons but that is a different debate

This is going to be near impossible to enforce. They smoke in places they're not 'allowed' to all the time. Prison is meant to be about a mixture of punishment and rehabilitation, however if they focused more on the rehabilitation aspect we would all be better off in the long run. Prison as punishment demonstrably doesn't work in the majority of instances.

So is the thrust of this initiative a punishment led idea, or a health issue led idea?

If it's health then i would agree that having inmates or staff share the same enclosed spaces with smokers is not right in the light of what we know about passive smoking. However splitting wings into smoking and non-smoking is probably logistically impossible i would think. All wings are over crowded as it is apparently.

And as for restricting them to outdoors - how many outdoor breaks do prisoners get per day? And night!? Not like they can pop out for one is it?

A dedicated smoking area indoors? How do-able is the supervision of that?

Tricky. I wouldn't like to be the one to push this through.

I am a smoker ( wish i could give them up)

Try an E-Cig, McNew. You'll never look back

(Sorry for the derail).

What outraged said...Prisons in the UK only run on the consent of the prisoners. I can understand the arguments against them smoking inside, but in practice, all this will do is inflame an already volatile situation. I haven't worked in a prison for a number of years to be fair, but ime this will cause nothing but trouble. If you have a wing of some 200 prisoners, with only 3 or 4 POs, how on earth are they expected to get everyone outside for a smoke break??

Prisons struggle enough to get prisoners off drugs like heroin or cocaine or alcohol. Often prisoners have huge mental health problems as well. It is hard breaking addictions and sometimes prisoners respond better to rewards than punishments.

Some prisoners are very damaged people. They need to be shown compassion inorder to learn compassion. If you treat prisoners like animals then they are more likely to act like animals in the future.

I would favour having non smoking and smoking wings of a prison. Prehaps the cells of non smokers could have extra luxuries to entice prisoners to try and give up cigerettes. (Ie. non smoking prisoners could be given access to Sky Sports or prehaps a slightly bigger cell or VERY CONTROLLED access to the internet or gadgets like a nindendo DS/ Wiii.)

I suppose I am guilty writing about something I have no knowledge of. It is easy to have views and harsh opinons on people you have never met and enviroment you have never visited.

tried every thing.

You can go to prison for unpaid TV licence. ( pretty pointless)

YANBU but I'm with those who say prison should be a lot stricter anyway.

I thinkt he smoking in cells was to prevent prisoners gathering ina big group to prevent trouble iyswim, not that all prisoners are going to be fighting

That's the way to get roof top protests and riots.

you can go to prison for not paying your community charge or not making sure your truanting teenager goes to school ,

And yet seriously mentally ill patients are already forced to go outside, even when under section. I briefly worked in a secure ward in the early 90s and smoking was the only time lots of patients interacted as they had to go to the smoke room. I think prisons and other places where people are locked in should not ban smoking but then I think the smoking ban is a pathetic pile of shit anyway.

Im going to derail to and say how good the e- cigs are. My partner has had one for over a year. He only uses it now when we go out or if hes really stressed. He used to smoke a lot before it

I really dislike this idea that everyone in prison is some kind of evil beast - people go to prison for loads of non violent reasons - and prisoners are still human beings

I think they should have smoking wings - I don't think they should ban smoking

I think they should concentrate on getting drugs out of prisons before they start to look at cigarettes, tbh. No point cutting someone's nicotine use when all sorts of other, illegal substances are widely available.

Not every one in prison has committed a huge crime.

I don't want the ban in prisons. Its not fair to force people to give up a legal drug.

Banning smoking? Shouldn't we, erm, be focusing on eliminating drugs trading inside prisons, rather than the prisoners' use of an entirely legal substance available on the outside, which does little to affect mood or competency?

And for anyone who thinks that smoking should be banned in prisons to make prisons more unpleasant, are you volunteering to be a prison guard while they bed that policy in?

It would cause chaos with an environment housing some very damaged people struggling with addiction as has been previously said. Different types of sentences and prisoners pose different problems re enforcement.