Preparations to make the Alexander Maconochie Centre (AMC) smoke-free have begun, with detainees, corrections staff and service providers invited to share their ideas on how best to manage the transition.
Minister for Corrections Mick Gentleman said the recommendation to ban smoking at the AMC was made in the Blueprint for Change: A New Future for Custodial Services report, which was handed down to the ACT Government byanindependent committee earlier this year.
"Detainees are not being asked to quit cold turkey," Minister Gentleman said.
"Staff at the AMC will be supported to quit smoking if they wish to as they also won't be able to smoke within the facility.
"Nicotine replacement therapies and a range of supports to help people cope with withdrawal symptoms will be available during the transition.
"With extensive stakeholder engagement planned, we expect the transition to a smoke-free AMC will take around 12 months.
"We know that quitting smoking is tough, but for the health and safety of all detainees and staff, it has to be done," Minister Gentleman said.
"The ACT is one of only two jurisdictions that still permits smoking in some correctional facilities, the other being Western Australia. We are fortunate to be able to learn from the challenges other correctional facilities faced when they transitioned to being smoke-free.
"This is an important step in the ACT Government's work to improve custodial services and outcomes," Minister Gentleman said.
ACTCS Commissioner Ray Johnson said survey data collected from detainees in 2016 to explore their initial views on the potential change showed approximately 82 per cent of detainees smoke and 14 per cent first took up smoking when they were in detention.
"The survey results also showed that 60 per cent of respondents had tried to quit smoking while in detention, and 67 per cent indicated they would like to quit smoking," Commissioner Johnson said.
ACT Chief Health Officer Dr Kerryn Coleman is pleased with the move to begin transitioning AMC to being smoke-free.
"The AMC has a significantly higher smoking rate than the general population and this is an important step to protect all detainees, staff and visitors from the harmful effects of smoking," Dr Coleman said.
