Call for prisons to be Smokefree workplaces

In November 2011, the Prison Officers Association (POA) called for all prisons to be made smoke-free workplaces, in line with all other workplaces in the UK and for the government to conduct an urgent survey of prisons to establish the extent of the problem.

A prisoner’s cell is currently classed as a “home” and is exempt from the ban. Results from a pilot study suggest a significant problem, with prison staff “exposed to considerable quantities of second-hand smoke during their working time”, and one prison in particular recording non-smoking prison officers with continine levels (a biomarker for exposure to tobacco smoke) close to the levels measured in bar workers before the smoking legislation was introduced.

The POA welcomed a Ministry of Justice announcement in September 2013 intending to introduce a smoke-free workplace in prisons in England and Wales by 2015. The ban is expected to apply to all parts of a prison, including exercise yards. A pilot ban is expected to be run this year at specific sites.

The POA have said that they would work with the Ministry of Justice to make sure a ban “works effectively” and acknowledged that it could cause “disturbances” although a smoking ban has already been successfully in young offenders institutions in England and Wales.