Aussies sound warning over prison smoking ban

Photo / Richard Robinson

Prison officer Steve Burrows has vivid recollections of when they tried to ban smoking inside Brisbane's rebuilt Woodford Correctional Centre.

"That didn't work, that jail burnt down. It was severely damaged by rioting and fire."

The inmates' outrage when one of their liberties was threatened back in 1997 might preface the reaction when New Zealand's penal institutions become smoke-free from July 2011.

The New Zealand Government's policy, announced last week by Corrections Minister Judith Collins, goes further than Australian legislation - no prisons are totally smoke-free.

Each state has its own smoking reduction policy for prisons, the intention being to ultimately stub the habit out altogether.

A national summit on tobacco smoking in prisons will be held in Canberra next month in a bid to formulate an Australia-wide strategy.

It promises to be a gradual process, one that has already inflamed prisoner advocacy groups like Sydney-based Justice Action.

Its New Zealand-born co-ordinator Brett Collins has fought for two years to defend a prisoner's access to cigarettes. He labelled developments in his homeland as "outrageous".

Other than the possibility of inmates turning violent, Mr Collins predicted corruption among prison staff who would smuggle in cigarettes to boost their incomes.

"You're increasing temptation," he said.

- NZPA