POOR AIR CONS Jail smoking ban leads to Frankenstein fags’
THE smoking ban in prisons has made air quality WORSE, a report has revealed.
The findings heap embarrassment on prison chiefs, who have trumpeted the health benefits of outlawing cigs at all the jails in England and Wales.
An official report found prisoners are breathing in more polluted air since the ban because so many cons have turned to so-called “Frankenstein fags” – contraband cigs made from Bible pag- es, nicotine patches and tea leaves. And the number toking on Spice – synthetic marijuana – has rocketed, further worsening air quality. The damning verdict came in a report by inspectors from the Independent Monitoring Board, who found that since the smoking ban came into place at HMP Cardiff in March 2016 the air quality in the jail had worsened.
It found that there had been an increase in complaints from non-smokers. The report said: “In March 2016 Cardiff became a non-smoking prison. This led to incidents of smoking other substances including nicotine patches, tea leaves and Spice (and) it would appear that the smoking ban has had the effect of increasing the use of other harmful and illicit substances.”
The report added: “Non-smoking prisoners reported to the Board that whereas previously they would share a cell with another non-smoker, they did not feel able to complain about their cell mate to obtain a cell transfer when they were smoking illicitly.”
According to the most recent stats, just over 80 per cent of the UK’s 86,000 prisoners were smokers before the ban.
Last week’s report also said the number of violent incidents at the jail had rocketed by 50 per cent since the smoking ban, with assaults against staff soaring by a massive 160 per cent. SUAVE Rupert Grint looks a world away from the Hogwarts uniform of Harry Potter as he films a crime drama in Spain.
The actor, 29, best known as child wizard Ron Weasley, wore a Panama hat and light suit to shoot series two of TV show Snatch in Nerja, near Malaga.
Tourist Phil Crouch, 51, of East Harling, Norfolk, snapped Rupert and said he looked “quite distinguished”.