SUPPOSEDLY because of the perils of ‘passive smoking’, or, more precisely, the potential civil action resulting therefrom, it is proposed that the nicotine habit be banned outright in our prisons.

Apart from the obvious sickness and unrest that mass withdrawal from this substance will occasion, whatever purported substitutes are used and the issue of such a prohibition conceivably giving inmates possibly inordinate leverage, there are the following points:-

  • They will still, in some instances, have ample access to cannabis, cocaine, etc, as well as illicit tobacco itself, smuggled in by crafty visitors, corrupt warders, etc.
  •  ‘Snout’ is apparently – and I may be decades behind the times – employed as currency in prisons, though I am unsure what problems may arise from its relative unavailability.
  •  ‘Screws’ sometimes use their larger supply of cigarettes as a weapon to taunt the detainees – and who would wish to deny them this little perk?

DAVID DIMENT

Riverside Court

Oxford