Ban on Smoking in Prisons will Make Jails More Dangerous
Former prisoners warn that the coming ban on smoking Marlboro, Camel and other discount cigarettes in prisons will make jails even more dangerous. In July next year tobacco, lighters and matches will all be banned from prisons after a 12 month campaign to help smokers kick the habit. And prison officers and Corrections staff will have to smoke in outdoor areas away from prisoners.
Corrections Minister Judith Collins says it will give prisoners a healthier environment, but people who have actually been behind bars say it could make prisons more dangerous.
In prison, cigarettes are used as currency and the government estimates up to two thirds of all prisoners in New Zealand smoke.
Former inmate Shenelle Ngatai says cigarettes are like gold in prisons and jails will be more corrupt if cigarettes are taken off prisoners. Ngatai was released from prison last month after doing time for grievous bodily harm. She declared that flavoured cigarettes like Kiss are like medicine for inmates and in prison, tobacco is currency.
“I had no money when I was inside. I was swapping my food for cigarettes, not so much starving myself but I survived on them basically.”
She says inmates will be punching and killing one another because cigarettes are all they need and are “their fix”. And if that fix isn’t freely available, prison reform advocate Kim Workman expects cigarettes will end up on the prison black market.
“The benefits, especially for long-term prisoners of not smoking, will outweigh that,” he says.
Stephen Kidwell, another former inmate, has done 14 stints behind bars.
“When they say to me if I’m going to go to jail I can’t smoke in jail, my God, that’s not going to be good,” he says.
Kidwell is a smoker and an occasional glue sniffer and is all too familiar with prison protocol. He says inmates are not allowed their own TV or stereo and cigarettes are “like the last stand”.
And former inmates say losing that last stand could lead to more violence and less co-operation with prison guards.
“Inmates are going to get pissed off. They’re not going to be listening to no screws. I just feel sorry for the screws,” says Ngatai. “There’s going to be more murders inside than out here. I’m telling you now.”
But Ngatai does admit a ban on tobacco is yet another reason to stay away from prison.
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