Smoking Cessation in Prison.
Smoking in prisons - a thing of the past
Smoke free prisons became a reality in July 2011. Our prison population is predominantly young to middle aged males from low socioeconomic and disadvantaged backgrounds. Over half report chronic disease, the most common being asthma, and two-thirds or more are current smokers; a statistic much greater than in the general population. With an average prison sentence of one year, Corrections face immense difficulties to engage prisoners in meaningful treatment and rehabilitation. For these short stay, transient populations, perhaps ongoing smoking cessation could be one realistic achievement.
“Prisoners are aware of the ban and are taking proactive steps to give up smoking” – Dr Brendan Anstiss | Assistant General Manager Prison Services.
Empowering prisoners, through smoking cessation activities, may be the first step in them taking greater responsibility for their own health. In mid-2011 1,800 prisoners had started the free NRT eight-week course in the lead up to the prison smoking ban. These are signs that prisoners are taking steps towards improving their health. Corrections have been active with The Quit Group and the Ministry of Health to ensure all the right resources are in place to implement the ban. Alongside NRT, ‘Workplace Champions’ have been developed; these are prison nurses and staff trained and on hand to answer questions about giving up smoking. Helping the smoker understand the emotions and habits that are so intrinsically linked to their addiction is shown to markedly improve success rates.
“One challenge is that once prisoners are released and return to their homes and social situations where smoking is the norm, they may relapse”. – The Quit Group | Te Roopu Me Mutu
Quitting, trying to quit and fail rates in our general population are surprisingly similar; whether this translates to our prison populations is unclear. Some international reports on forced cessation suggest the majority of prisoners post-release relapsed within six months, while others suggest quit rates similar to community samples. By addressing the smoking behaviours of prisoners there are promising possibilities for important health gains. Lessons learned from giving up could indeed benefit other aspects of their life, including dealing with ongoing drug and alcohol issues.
“The Quit Group are working with the Department of Corrections on a resource pack which will be given to prisoners upon release and which addresses these specific issues”. – The Quit Group | Te Roopu Me Mutu
Smoking cessation has been shown to correlate with positive outcomes in drug treatment. Given the high levels of problematic drug and alcohol use amongst arrestees and within our prison population (upwards of 70% and 80% respectively), this could well translate to tangible benefits.
“Smoking is one of the routines and small ‘rewards’ people use to break up the day. It will take considerable effort to re-enforce the rewards of non-smoking and to turn the existing dominant culture into something that reflects the more downward trends in the general population”. – Wolfgang Theuerkauf | CADS Waitemata