Smoking paraphernalia the most seized items from visitors at Victorian prisons

Visitors to Victorian prisons were caught trying to smuggle in thousands of cigarettes this year while the prisoners themselves got creative to get around the smoking ban.

Cigarettes were banned from Victorian prisons in 2015 but it has not stopped people attempting to smuggle them past security. Picture: iStock

Cigarettes have overtaken drugs — including prescription medication — as the most smuggled item into Victorian prisons nearly a decade after they were banned from jails.

Corrections Victoria data revealed a major surge in the amount of smoking paraphernalia seized from visitors at the state’s prisons — outnumbering the amount of prescription medication, meth and marijuana being seized.

In the 2023/24 financial year there were more than 3100 smoking-related items — including cigarettes, lighters and matches — seized from 104 successful searches of visitors — in comparison to the previous year where only 336 items were confiscated.

The most popular jail for would-be smugglers was Port Phillip Prison where 973 pieces were taken — followed by Melbourne Remand Centre and Ravenhall in the city’s western suburbs.

Ravenhall prison officers confiscated 469 items of banned smoking paraphernalia this year (AAP Image/Joe Castro)

Port Phillip Prison officers seized the most banned smoking gear from visitors out of all the state’s prisons Victorian prisons. Picture: Google Maps

Tobacco was controversially banned in Victorian prisons in 2015, with inmates instead given nicotine patches — until those were added to the list of prohibited items in February 2024.

One former inmate told the Herald Sun crafty prisoners created makeshift cigarettes from the nicotine in the patches after the 2015 ban was implemented.

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A recent IBAC investigation found contraband — including alcohol and tobacco — was a “recurring issue” when it came to corruption inside Victorian prisons.

The investigation also found the value of tobacco behind bars could be “significantly inflated” — with nicotine or tobacco worth thousands of dollars in some places.

Smoking equipment was also the most heavily confiscated group of banned articles off prisoners themselves in the past year, with more than 4400 items seized.

Other prohibited items inside prisoners include tattooing equipment, alcohol, cameras, USB storage devices and mobile phones.

The past year also saw a significant increase in the amount of meth detected in prisoner drug tests.

In 2023/24 meth was the second most popular drug inmates tested positive for behind Buprenorphine.

Dame Phyllis female prison was revealed as the meth capital among the state’s prisons. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui

Women’s prison Dame Phyllis Frost centre in Melbourne’s west — home to underworld matriarch Judy Moran and pedophile principal Malka Leifer — was revealed as the meth capital among the state’s prisons, making up nearly 32 per cent of positive results.

A Department of Justice and Community Safety spokeswoman said the high detection of banned products “proved the methods are working”.

“Victoria’s prison system has one of the toughest and most extensive contraband detection regimes in Australia and has a zero-tolerance approach to the smuggling of prohibited items into prisons,” she said.