Tea leaf watch as jails ban smoking

PRISONERS in SA will take part in program aimed at helping them when jail smoking is bans take effect in 2015.

smoking

SA prisoners will take part in program aimed at helping them when jail smoking is bans take effect in 2015.

The aim is to prevent them from smoking tea leaves and nicotine patches when bans are introduced.

All smoking inside prison buildings will be banned but the Government will still allow smoking outside.

New Zealand prisoners resorted to smoking nicotine patches and tea leaves after cigarette sales were stopped a month ago ahead of a nationwide jail tobacco ban.

The NZ Department of Corrections stopped the sale of cigarettes, matches and lighters in prisons a month ago in preparation, and thousands of inmates have signed up for nicotine replacement therapy.

But some hooked prisoners, so desperate for a smoking hit, have attempted to light and smoke their nicotine patches, assistant general manager of prison services Brendan Anstiss said.

"That type of behaviour is expected," he said.

"Prisoners have tried to smoke a variety of things, from tea leaves to grass, so I'm not surprised they'd try to get a hit from the patches. I'm pretty sure it doesn't work."

The ban, announced last June, has been hotly debated, with many believing it curbs prisoners' civil rights, takes away their only pleasure and will increase the risk of rioting and violence.

The impending prohibition has driven up demand for cigarettes, with some reports of a packet selling for $NZ300 ($A233) on the prison black market.

SA Correctional Services Minister Tom Koutsantonis said it was acknowledged prison smoking bans would require careful planning, which had already commenced.

"It is not planned to introduce a total smoking ban in prisons like NZ has done," he said.

"SA is developing their plans in close consultation with other Australian jurisdictions and the NZ Corrections Department.

"Any experience from other corrections systems will assist with the planning in this state."

Smoking indoors is already banned at Mobilong Prison and the Government is looking at special provisions for facilities such as the Adelaide Remand Centre which does not have any outside areas where prisoners could smoke.