Contraband cigarettes cost up to $1000 in Victorian prisons, IBAC reveals

VICTORIAN prisoners are splashing up to $1000 for a single pack of cigarettes behind bars, with a prison smoking ban having “dramatically increased the demand for smuggled tobacco”.

Prison smoking bans have upped demand for contraband cigarettes. Picture: AFP

VICTORIAN prisoners are splashing up to $1000 for a single pack of cigarettes behind bars.

A prison smoking ban “dramatically increased the demand for smuggled tobacco”, an Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission report has found.

Port Phillip Prison security managers told IBAC last year that the cost of a pack of cigarettes had skyrocketed to as much as $1000.

It is about 28 times the standard cost of a 30-pack of Winfield Blues.

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IBAC — addressing the dangers of corruption in the corrections sector — said cigarettes, drugs, phones, food and access to betting accounts were all “highly sought after” in prison.

“As a result, the price of these commodities inside a prison is many times higher than their street value, creating a strong motivation to smuggle them into prisons,” said the ­report, released today.

“Victorian prisons banned smoking in July 2015, which dramatically increased demand for smuggled tobacco and has reportedly led to packs of cigarettes selling for as much as $1000 inside Victorian prisons.”

The ban sparked the state’s largest prison riot at the Metropolitan Remand Centre in Ravenhall.

The mayhem saw up to 300 inmates taunt prison officers, set mattresses alight, breach fences, loot the canteen and use a tractor to cause damage.

It took authorities 15 hours to bring the situation under control and left a $100 million repair bill.

Damage to the Ravenhall prison after riots. Picture: Nine News

The Herald Sun revealed earlier this year that a prison crime gang had been busted smuggling tobacco into Port Phillip Prison via laundry from aged-care homes.

Prison authorities were shocked to find the contraband, including pouches containing tobacco, in linen and garments taken from homes to be cleaned by inmates.

A Corrections Victoria spokes­woman said that the ­authority employed “a range of measures” to stop cigarettes being smuggled into prisons.

“These include barrier controls, searches, contraband detection dogs and intelligence operations,” she said.

“All tobacco and smoking accessories, including matches and lighters, are illegal on prison property and anyone caught with these items may face police or internal disciplinary action.”

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