Almost all Australian prisoners are smokers -a rate five times the national average, a federal health report says.
The report, Smoking and quitting smoking among prisoners 2012, shows that 84 per cent of prisoners were smokers when they went to jail and few quit.
“The decline in smoking rates among the general population seen in the last 20 years has not been mirrored among prisoner populations,” the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) spokesman Tim Beard said today.
“Among prisoners we also see a concentration of characteristics that are more common among people who are likely to smoke.
“For example, over a quarter identify as Indigenous Australians. They also tend to come from areas of low socio-economic status; have relatively high unemployment rates; and report relatively low levels of education compared to the general population.”
One in 20 non-smokers on entry to prison started smoking while in prison while a further 42 per cent who were current smokers reported smoking more when leaving prison than when they entered.
Beard said 46 per cent of prison entrants who were current smokers said they would like to quit.
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“But it’s plainly not easy, with just 1 in 12 prison dischargees being successful in quitting smoking, while a further 27 per cent tried to quit but were unsuccessful.”
The high smoking rates come despite no-smoking rules in some prisons.
All jurisdictions in Australia have at least some restrictions on smoking in prisons, and in July 2013 a complete ban on smoking for prisoners, staff and visitors was introduced into prisons in the Northern Territory.
In South Australia, restrictions on smoking indoors do not extend to cells as they are considered residential premises rather than public areas.
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