rockin'robin
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The Government hopes the ban, to be phased in gradually, will eventually include all prisons in England and Wales
Smoking will be banned at all prisons in Wales and four in England from next year.
The Government says this is the first step towards making all jails in both countries smoke free, due to the health problems smoking can cause.
From January, HMPs Cardiff, Parc, Swansea and Usk/Prescoed will ban smoking, and HMPs Exeter, Channings Wood, Dartmoor and Erlestoke will follow in March.
All prisons will provide voluntary smoke-free areas from early next year.
Currently all prisoners are allowed to smoke in their cells but not in communal areas.
From next month, open prison inmates will only be allowed to smoke in certain outside areas.
Prisons Minister Andrew Selous said the ban would be gradually phased in, adding that it was "the right thing to do".
He said: "We will continue to take a sensible and considered approach, using the experience of the first prisons to go smoke-free to inform the speed at which we move to smoke-free across our remaining prisons.
"We have no plans to move to smoke-free prisons overnight and will only do so in a phased way that takes into account operational resilience and readiness of each prison.
"The operational safety and security of our prisons will always be our top priority."
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of health charity ASH, welcomed the move, saying the organisation had been pushing for it since 2005.
She also called on prison chiefs in Scotland and Northern Ireland to follow suit.
Peter Dawson, deputy director of the Prison Reform Trust said prisoners should still be allowed to smoke outdoors.
He added: "Michael Gove has said we should send people to prison 'as punishment, not for punishment'.
"So there has to be a good reason for denying prisoners a freedom when that is not 'a necessary consequence of imprisonment'.
"A sensible and considered approach to smoking in prisons would leave prisoners with a choice - at least to smoke outside.
"If that is to be denied to them, there has to be proper support while people give up - not just smoking cessation aids, but increased vigilance for signs of distress that could easily turn into self harm or worse."
http://news.sky.com/story/1561210/ban-on-smoking-in-prisons-to-start-next-year
Smoking will be banned at all prisons in Wales and four in England from next year.
The Government says this is the first step towards making all jails in both countries smoke free, due to the health problems smoking can cause.
From January, HMPs Cardiff, Parc, Swansea and Usk/Prescoed will ban smoking, and HMPs Exeter, Channings Wood, Dartmoor and Erlestoke will follow in March.
All prisons will provide voluntary smoke-free areas from early next year.
Currently all prisoners are allowed to smoke in their cells but not in communal areas.
From next month, open prison inmates will only be allowed to smoke in certain outside areas.
Prisons Minister Andrew Selous said the ban would be gradually phased in, adding that it was "the right thing to do".
He said: "We will continue to take a sensible and considered approach, using the experience of the first prisons to go smoke-free to inform the speed at which we move to smoke-free across our remaining prisons.
"We have no plans to move to smoke-free prisons overnight and will only do so in a phased way that takes into account operational resilience and readiness of each prison.
"The operational safety and security of our prisons will always be our top priority."
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of health charity ASH, welcomed the move, saying the organisation had been pushing for it since 2005.
She also called on prison chiefs in Scotland and Northern Ireland to follow suit.
Peter Dawson, deputy director of the Prison Reform Trust said prisoners should still be allowed to smoke outdoors.
He added: "Michael Gove has said we should send people to prison 'as punishment, not for punishment'.
"So there has to be a good reason for denying prisoners a freedom when that is not 'a necessary consequence of imprisonment'.
"A sensible and considered approach to smoking in prisons would leave prisoners with a choice - at least to smoke outside.
"If that is to be denied to them, there has to be proper support while people give up - not just smoking cessation aids, but increased vigilance for signs of distress that could easily turn into self harm or worse."
http://news.sky.com/story/1561210/ban-on-smoking-in-prisons-to-start-next-year
...all the way around, not gonna be too pleasant.
