Last year, the usage of e-cigs in prisons in the United Kingdom was greenlit by the UK government after the smoking ban reportedly caused issues in many prisons, according to Ali Anderson.
Prisoners were rioting post the smoking ban. Now, as many as 33,000 (and counting) prisoners have switched to vaping. According to a prison service spokesperson, “All closed prisons in England and Wales are now smoke-free reducing the risk of second-hand smoke to prisoners and staff. Prisoners have been given support in quitting smoking if they need it including vapes, e-cigarettes and nicotine replacement therapy.”
According to official statistics, a huge 80 per cent of the 70,000 prisoners were reported to be taking desperate measures after the nicotine patches.
Assaults in the prison increased post the ban, and this led to The Ministry of Justice sanctioning a new scheme to allow vaping in UK prisons. It was so successful that it was soon rolled out to other jails in the UK.
A Public Health England communication reported: “Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service have agreed to make the rechargeable vaping devices piloted in Wales available across the whole estate, including within the Long Term High Security and Women’s prisons.”
A released inmate that was in Derbyshire’s Foston Hall Prison during the new scheme told Metro News that they “could not have done my two month sentence without my vape, I saw how bad it was when the smoking ban came in last year and when I had to go back in I was dreading craving a burn. However, I got a vaping machine and it made my sentence a lot easier.”
