The Government intends to ban smoking in all prisons in England and Wales to reduce health risks. It is currently allowed in prison cells and exercise yards. The move follows a series of legal challenges by prison officers and inmates who have complained about passive smoking. Ministers are drawing up plans to convert the first jails to be smoke-free next year. Prison Governors’ Association president Andrea Albutt cautiously welcomed the move but said it must be done in a safe and staged way as 80% of prisoners smoked. An ex-prisoner said, ‘There is a black market in any banned goods. Tobacco will be a currency. Tobacco is a way of dealing with stress. If you take away tobacco it’ll become a war of attrition within the prison system and there will be violence. They tried it in Australia recently and there was an immediate riot.’