New Zealand

Foreign prisons seek details of smoking ban

15:02 pm on 2 October 2011

Overseas prisons are approaching the New Zealand Corrections Department, wanting to know how it made prisons smokefree without any major trouble.

After a lead-in lasting a year, cigarettes, lighters, matches and tobacco were banned in July this year for more than 8500 inmates and their visitors.

Corrections has since reported a smooth transition from two-thirds of prioners smoking, to zero.

It says prisons in several Australian states and Hong Kong now want to find out about the implementation of the ban.

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