Campaigners have sounded warnings over prison conditions after figures showed inmates are spending more than £7 million a year on vapes and e-cigarettes.
The amount spent in canteens has risen every year since 2019 after a smoking ban was phased in by the government across closed jails in England and Wales.
Prison reform groups say that inmates spending long hours in their cells are turning to the products in the absence of healthier activities.
In the previous financial year, inmates spent £7,655,766 on vapes and £7,930 on e-cigarettes — a three-year high overall.
Prisoners have already spent £6,730,176 of their own money on vapes alone in the current period up to January.
British American Tobacco (BAT) and Manchester-headquartered Supreme Imports Ltd were named as suppliers of the products in the data released by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
In 2018, Metro.co.uk reported how vaping was becoming wildly popular after the smoking ban was phased in from the previous year.
At the time, an inmate released from Derbyshire’s Foston Hall Prison said: ‘I could not have done my two-month sentence without my vape’.
She also told how refill packs had become jail currency among inmates once they had been obtained.
Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: ‘This increased spend is, in part, a reflection of how the prison population has risen since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘But it may also indicate how people in prison are turning to vapes and e-cigarettes to help get through the tedium of spending hours on end locked inside their cells. Fresh air, exercise and a range of positive activities are all essential to help people in prison to live more healthily.’
Inmates’ time outside their cells was drastically reduced during the pandemic and the Prison Reform Trust warned this week that the lack of ‘assocation’ is an ongoing problem.
Chief executive Pia Sinha said: ‘Prison is a stressful environment with many prisoners spending up to 23 hours a day locked in their cells with little to do.
‘It is understandable therefore that many turn to nicotine for comfort.
‘Cigarettes have been banned in prisons for a number of years.
‘From a health perspective, it is preferable for prisoners to be using vapes and e-cigarettes than smoking.’
Vapes and e-cigs were made available to prisons from 2015 in order to try and wean inmates off tobacco.
In the years since, synthetic cannabinoids, including spice and mamba, have become a problem on the estate. A fight reportedly over spice was among a catalogue of violent incidents at HMP Belmarsh which were revealed by Metro.co.uk in February.
Meanwhile, the spend on vapes has risen from £4,446,459 in the 2019 to 2020 financial year to £7,655,766 between 2021 and 2022. The amount spent on e-cigs has fallen from £23,656 to £7,930 over the same period.
The figures released to Metro.co.uk under the Freedom of Information Act show that BAT’s Ten Motives and Supreme Imports’ 88Vape are currently available behind bars.
The 88Vape rechargeable pen device is available to prisoners with starter kits and flavours including menthol, berries, raspberry ripple and cola ice, according to the disclosure.
In its response to the request, the MoJ said: ‘Prison canteen services offer a wide variety of products (including vapes) to prisoners that are delivered by an approved national supplier responsible for sourcing products to meet the needs of the population.
‘All canteen purchases are made by prisoners using their own money.’
England is now the largest smoke-free prison estate in Western Europe, according to the MoJ.
A spokesperson said: ‘All closed prisons have been smoke-free since 2018 to protect staff and prisoners from passive smoking.
‘Prisoners can purchase vapes and e-cigarettes at their own expense – which many use to help quit tobacco.’
MORE : Catalogue of ‘horrifying’ violence among inmates revealed at top security jail
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