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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-06-04 Daily Xml
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PRISONERS, TOBACCO USE

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:34): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Correctional Services a question relating to smoking in prisons.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: With 20 per cent overcrowding and with 80 per cent of prisoners being smokers, the opportunity to have access to a smoke-free cell are increasingly limited. However, the government has made clear that its rack 'em, pack 'em and stack 'em approach to prisons means that prisoner welfare is no longer a priority. Prisons, however, are also workplaces. In legislating to ban smoking in all enclosed workplaces the Rann government specifically excluded prisons, the workplace of 870 correctional services officers.

The Public Service Association's ongoing pleas for a smoke-free workplace for its members have been ignored. In contrast, there is a growing trend worldwide toward smoke-free prisons. In 2004 smoking was outlawed in the 105 federal penitentiaries of the United States of America, and in 2005 California banned the possession, sale and use of tobacco products for inmates, employees and visitors to the state's 32 prisons. At least 10 US states have bans where the use and possession of tobacco products is outlawed on prison property. In Western Australia Greenough Regional Prison is currently implementing a 12-month trial of a full indoor smoking ban. The Western Australian government has declared its intention to make all its prisons smoke free. My questions to the minister are:

1. Considering that general smoking rates in the community have fallen from around 40 per cent to less than 20 per cent since 1990, what is the government doing to reduce the estimated 80 per cent prevalence of smoking amongst prisoners?

2. Will the government follow the lead of the United States and the Western Australian government and trial smoke-free workplaces for the benefit of our correctional services officers?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:37): It is correct that approximately 80 per cent of the prison population smoke. For many prisoners entry into the prison system is a stressful experience, and the added anxiety associated with not having access to tobacco could significantly increase trauma levels and contribute to prisoner unrest, self-harming behaviour and other management issues. It is correct that prisons were excluded from no smoking legislation under the Tobacco Products Regulation Act 1997, but I place on record that prisoners are allowed to smoke only in designated site-specific areas, including their cells. Any breach of those rules is likely to result in a warning, followed by appropriate action if the prisoner continues to disregard the restrictions.

Prisoners are permitted to smoke in their cells, provided the cell door is closed. The air from the cells is vented outside the building and is not recirculated. Prisoners and staff are not allowed to smoke in enclosed association areas, buildings or accommodation units. These areas include the gymnasiums, the infirmaries, the kitchens, recreation areas and the laundries. Every effort is made not to accommodate smokers and non-smokers in the same cell. The department offers assistance to prisoners who wish to quit smoking. Occasionally it does happen that non-smoking prisoners have been or are temporarily accommodated with smokers, and in such circumstances officers ensure that the prisoners are agreeable to sharing a cell and that they are relocated as soon as is practicable. The new prisons being opened in 2011 clearly offer the department the opportunity, with a greater footprint, for the issue of where smoking is and is not allowed in our prisons to be re-examined.

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