Jail unrest feared over smoking ban plans

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/18/prisons-smoking-ban-fears-unrest

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The Ministry of Justice is drawing up plans for a smoking ban in several jails amid fears that legal actions forcing all to go smoke-free simultaneously would trigger unrest at a time when tensions in the prison estate are high.

Successive prison ministers have prevaricated on introducing a ban, due to concerns about the reaction from the four out of five prisoners who smoke. However, two legal cases brought by prisoners have brought the matter to a head. In March, a high court case confirmed that prisons were not above the law when it came to restrictions on smoking and that prison staff, including the governor, were open to prosecution if they failed to enforce restrictions.

The judge said that extending the smoking ban to prison cells could cause unrest. He said “prisoners who feel the need to smoke … may be resistant to the criminalising of that conduct in places where in my view the Health Act does apply”. This ruling is being contested by Ministry of Justice lawyers who argued that, because prisons operate under crown immunity, they are not subject to the ban. But last month, in response to a case brought by a prisoner who objected to being held in a cell with a smoker in Parc prison in Bridgend, Wales, run by G4S, lawyers for the justice secretary, Michael Gove, accepted that crown immunity did not cover private prisons and conceded that Parc would become smoke-free by February.

Sean Humber, solicitor with the law firm Leigh Day, who represented the prisoner who brought the case, said: “Having taken this step for one prison, it will be much harder for the government to argue against the whole of the prison estate following suit.” Humber predicted that the Ministry of Justice would now have to draw up a timetable for other prisons to go smoke-free.

“This is quite a big step forward because, while the prison service has been talking about its intention for prisons to go smoke-free for years in very general terms, it has repeatedly delayed identifying a timetable to actually do or even to trial it at certain prisons,” he said.

Now the Observer understands that the ministry will soon pilot a smoking ban in about eight prisons in Wales and the south-west of England. It is known to have conducted an analysis on the health effects of smoking in prisons, but it has declined to release a 2007 assessment – requested under the Freedom of Information Act – on the ground that it “could lead to an inaccurate impression, causing damage to staff morale, which would be likely to prejudice the maintenance of security and good order in prisons”.

A continued failure to implement a ban could leave the ministry open to legal action. “It may strengthen a personal injury or breach of human rights claim for someone claiming that they have suffered health problems as a result of their exposure to second-hand smoke,” Humber explained.

Last week, the chief inspector of prisons, Nick Hardwick, used his last report to warn that staff shortages, overcrowding and a rising level of violence had all contributed to a significant overall decline in safety in the country’s jails.

A spokesman for the ministry said it had already introduced a number of precautionary measures to reduce the risk of exposure to second-hand smoke.