Ministers have excluded prison cells from the smoking ban that comes in to force a week from today. But they have said prison officers – and non-smoking prisoners  – must be protected from passive smoking.

Prison officers have now been told they should not enter a cell until the smell of smoke has gone. And prison governors have been warned they must provide non-smoking cells to all those who want them – increasing the accommodation pressure on jails already bursting at the seams.

Glyn Travis, assistant secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association, said the new rules could even compromise security.

He said: “The majority of cells have two or more prisoners and we already have to vet them for potential violence, racism and self-harm. Add smoking to that and sorting out accommodation is going to be like trying to plait soup.
“It is ludicrous – prisoners are going to be able to pick and choose their cells as if they were in a hotel. If they don’t like the cell they are in they will just say they’ve given up smoking.

“The other fundamental flaw is that we are going to have to give prisoners a 15-minute warning when we want to search a cell where someone is smoking to give time for the smoke to clear. That is a 15-minute window to destroy or hide the contraband we are looking for. Security will become a joke. 

What do YOU think? Is the smoking ban a waste of time?