By Michael Morrah
An inmate released from a maximum security jail just last week says a ban on smoking in prisons is working, but it will be hard to eradicate the problem completely.
New rules were introduced just over a month ago and now only a small number of inmates are still lighting fires and getting caught with tobacco.
The open space of Auckland Domain is a bit of a novelty for Steven.
He spent the last year of a six year sentence at Auckland's maximum security jail for aggravated robbery and arson. He traded tobacco on the inside, but quit before the ban.
“I was getting quite ill, losing a lot of weight, selling my food all the time, occasionally getting into trouble and not being able to pay my debts,” he says.
Steven showed 3 News his "prison trade chart". According to that, four cigarettes could get an inmate another inmate's lunch for a week, eight cigarettes, a packet of Tim Tam biscuits - Ginger Nuts were slightly cheaper at four cigarettes - while stashing contraband for another inmate would cost up to 20 cigarettes.
“The ones who couldn't afford their cigarettes, now there's no reason for them to sell their food, their breakfast, their dinners,” he says.
That's because cigarettes no longer appear on the jail shopping list. Instead, there's banana chips, figs or dried apricots.
“We've seen some increases in inmates buying chocolate biscuits or buying healthier options. That's been pleasing,” says prison services assistant general manager Brendan Anstiss.
He says the ban is going smoothly. But since it was introduced a month ago, there've been four fires - a third the number for the previous month - and 189 smoking-related items taken off inmates or visitors.
“So there's been a few where people have tried to hide packets of tobacco or cigarettes or throw over packets of tobacco or cigarettes. We've caught those ones. We know when it's going to happen. We have good intel,” says Mr Anstiss.
Prison staff have also been told to take their habit outside. Six thousand inmates have taken up nicotine replacement programs. The difference is for Steven is he now has the choice.
3 News