Is This Ban On Smoking Six Years Too Late?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2287267/Riot-fears-cigarettes-set-banned-prisons-England-Wales-amid-compensation.html

[joeluke]

Prison is meant to be a punishment so all privileges should be taken away, and that inclues smoking

Prison life should be a deterrent to make criminals not want to re-offend when they are released

[Ronnie10]

Lcg you're missing the point. I'm not talking about other countries where the laws are you can't smoke in prison, i'm talking about here where you can smoke in prisons and them taking this right away from the prisoners within.

[nailit]

just another thought here, depriving prisoners of cigarettes WILL lead to dealing in what otherwise is not an ilegal substance, thus prisoners will be further criminalised if and when caught. Madness if you ask me, espesially when many prison officers smoke themselves.

[Ronnie10]

"Prison is meant to be a punishment so all privileges should be taken away, and that inclues smoking

Prison life should be a deterrent to make criminals not want to re-offend when they are released"

I agree that would go further and remove tv's, association times and every luxury imaginable with each prisoner living in soundproofed single cells where the only time they come out of their cell is when their sentence is finished but that's another thread.

[lcg]

i'm not missing the point.....our prison population is not special, nor dissimilar to others. if others haven't rioted, it is likely that ours won't either. it is called logical thinking.....and if you are hung up on the 'right' being taken away....how do you think all the sectioned patients coped when the ban was enforced in 2007? not all had access to the outside.

[joeluke]

'remove tv's, association times and every luxury imaginable'

+1

[nailit]

// Prison life should be a deterrent to make criminals not want to re-offend when they are released //
We used to hang, flog, torture and deport criminals. It wasnt a deterrent then and a harsher prison regime wouldnt be a deterrent now.
Unless you tackle the underlying issues of crime you wont stop criminal activity. removing cigarettes from cons already serving their sentence and them criminalising them if they get caught is a disaster waiting to happen.

[lcg]

no....it isn't.

[lcg]

and....why should prisoners be allowed to smoke inside if nobody else is?

[nailit]

// and....why should prisoners be allowed to smoke inside if nobody else is? //
what is wrong with smoking in your own room (cell)? I just think it will lead to problems.

[lcg]

it's not 'your' room. it's owned by the government. if nothing else, it will cut down on decorating costs. and, for the last feckin' time......smoke gets through the doors (they are not hermetically sealed rooms, are they?) and staff do look in cells, wander around the halls.....and therefore are at risk of passive smoking. btw....that has been proven as a fact.

[nailit]

OK, keep your hair on. But as an ex con (and quite possibly a con again in a few weeks) Im telling you, it will lead to more problems in jail.

[anotheoldgit]

Why should people who have broken the law be treated more favourable than the rest of the population.

The ban was put on (rightly or wrongly) against smoking in public places, because of the risk of disease through passive smoking.

It has been said that cells are not public places but they actually are if occupied by more than one prisoner, what about the risk to those other prisoners if they happen not to smoke? Will these prisoners not be able to sue the prison authorities at a later date if they happen to contact a lung disease?

Surely there are exercise yards, couldn't these could be sectioned off, ie smokers and non smokers.

[emmie]

aog, according to some, prisoners are locked up 23 hours out of 24, ?

[anotheoldgit]

em10

Yes I have also heard of this, but can you really believe it, surely it would be against their 'human rights'?

[Svejk]

AOG.
Nailit, who knows about these things, says that inmates can request a non-smoking cell.

[nailit]

AOG, are you so gullible that you believe everything you read in the papers?
Prisons are holiday camps, everyones got sky tv, cons play on xboxes all day, blah, blah,blah. The reality is very different.
// Why should people who have broken the law be treated more favourable than the rest of the population. //
They arnt, thats why they are deprived of their freedom.
// The ban was put on (rightly or wrongly) against smoking in public places, because of the risk of disease through passive smoking.//
couldnt agree more.
// It has been said that cells are not public places but they actually are if occupied by more than one prisoner, what about the risk to those other prisoners if they happen not to smoke?//
You dont have to share a cell with a smoker and some prisons have single cell occupancy (if youre a good boy...)
// Surely there are exercise yards, couldn't these could be sectioned off, ie smokers and non smokers.//
You get one hours exercise a day if youre lucky.
some prisoners are locked up 23 hrs a day
// Yes I have also heard of this, but can you really believe it, surely it would be against their 'human rights'?//
If you want to believe everything you read in the rags, carry on. There just isnt enough work in prisons to go round. Ive spent months in a cell with only the occasional exercise period and leaving only to get my pig swill...sorry, 3 course dinner.

[anotheoldgit]

nailit

I don't know why you were in prison, but excuse me if I can't shed a tear for you.

[nailit]

I havnt asked anyone to shed a tear for me AOG. just putting the record straight.