According to foreign media reports, the British government began to provide e-cigarettes to prisons in 2015 in order to make prisoners in prisons quit smoking. However, the move has had unintended consequences: vaping has become a social currency in prisons, with prisoners spending more than £7m a year on vaping.
Prisoners’ spending on e-cigarettes has risen every year since the government phased in a smoking ban in closed prisons in England and Wales in 2019, according to data released by the UK’s Ministry of Justice. Prisoners spent £7,655,766 on vaping in the last financial year, a three-year high. Prisoners spent £6,730,176 on e-cigarettes alone in the year to January this year.
Suppliers of e-cigarettes include British American Tobacco and Manchester-based Supreme Imports Ltd. It was revealed that 88 Vape rechargeable pen devices are available to inmates, including starter kits and flavors including menthol, berry, raspberry ripple and cola ice. All purchases were made at the prisoners’ own expense.
In the absence of healthier activities, inmates who spend long periods in their cells are turning to the products, prison reform groups say. A prisoner released from Foston Hall Prison in Derbyshire said: “I could not have served my two-month sentence without my e-cigarette. She also recounts how booster packs become prison currency among inmates when acquired.
Andrew Nelson, campaign director at the Howard Alliance for Penal Reform, said: “The increase in spending partly reflects an increase in the prison population since the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. But it may also show how people in prisons are turning to e-cigarettes and e-liquids to help them get through the tedium of being locked in a cell for hours. Fresh air, exercise and a range of active activities are all essential to help people in prison live healthier lives.
Prisoners are spending significantly less time outside their cells during the pandemic, and the Prison Reform Trust warned this week that lack of contact was a persistent problem. Chief executive Piasinghe said: “Prison is a stressful environment, with many prisoners spending up to 23 hours a day locked in their cells, doing nothing. So it’s understandable that many people turn to nicotine for comfort. Smoking has been banned in prisons for many years. From a health standpoint, prisoner use of e-cigarettes and e-liquids is preferable to smoking.
England is now the largest smoke-free prison in Western Europe, according to the UK Ministry of Justice. A spokesman said: “Smoking has been banned in all closed prisons since 2018 to protect staff and prisoners from passive smoking. Prisoners can purchase e-cigarettes at their own expense – and many use them to help quit smoking.
However, the prevalence of vaping in prisons has also raised questions. Some inmates use components from e-cigarettes to make weapons or other contraband, or use e-cigarettes as a tool for gambling or bribery. In addition, the long-term health effects of e-cigarettes are unknown, and some fear they may lead to other forms of addiction.
Therefore, the British government and prison management need to find a balance between encouraging prisoners to quit smoking and maintaining prison order. Vaping may be a useful transition tool, but it shouldn’t be a new social currency.
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