Prison smoking ban: Forest calls for "common sense"

Mon 17th July, 2017

Forest urged the Scottish Prison Service to put "common sense" ahead of "anti-smoking politics" and abandon plans to make Scotland's prisons smoke free.

Simon Clark, director of Forest, said:

"The risks of secondhand smoke have been greatly exaggerated. Allowing inmates to smoke in their cells poses no significant risk to prison officers.

"On the other hand, banning smoking in prisons risks inflaming a tense and sometimes violent environment.

"Tobacco is an important currency in prison. The removal of one of the few privileges inmates are allowed could also fuel the use of illicit substances.

"Prison inmates don't have a right to smoke but issues like this require a pragmatic response that puts common sense ahead of doctrinaire anti-smoking politics."

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