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Welcome to the EuroPris Knowledge Management System. The table below shows questions and responses from European National Agencies. Select a question for more information or use the filters on the left to narrow down questions based on Agency or Category.
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Introduction: Belgium allowed inmates and staff smoking in prison, although in certain places (short for separate local staff, inmates at cell or on the walking place). The question now arises what to do with electronic cigarettes. This "cigarettes" need a charger, which can apparently also be used to charge, for example, mobile phones. The chargers should be prohibited (including staff), which is the e-cigarette de facto excluded from the prisons.
According to the law, smoking in prison is forbiden in public areas. Only in the court yard and into the cells inmates are allowed to smoke. There are not electronic cigarettes inside prison
Do you eliminate the e-cigarette? If yes, for both staff and prisoners? If not, do you organize checks, etc.?Despite not being forbidden the sale, the electronic cigarette is a product that is not available in stores inside the prison. Regarding its use, limitations are the same as for nicotine cigarettes: Smoking in prison is forbiden in public and working areas, and this is true both for prisoners and for staff
How do you organise if the e-cigarette is allowed for detainees, supplies?--
SPS has had extensive discussions with health providers and trade union representatives on this subject. Staff are not currently permitted to use e-cigarettes in prisons and there is no proposal to change this.
Do you eliminate the e-cigarette? If yes, for both staff and prisoners? If not, do you organize checks, etc.?E-cigarettes are not currently permitted for staff or prisoners.
How do you organise if the e-cigarette is allowed for detainees, supplies?E-cigarettes are not currently permitted for staff or prisoners.
Currently we only permit prisoners access to disposable e-cigarettes they purchase from their own funds through the ‘prison canteen’ service and these devices have been available to all prisoners aged 18 and over since August 2015. We actively seek to improve the range of disposable e-cigarettes but if we are to offer a better alternative to smoking it is clear we need to consider re-chargeable devices, trials of these are currently underway in Welsh prisons as they are all smoke free.
Do you eliminate the e-cigarette? If yes, for both staff and prisoners? If not, do you organize checks, etc.?No, prisoners are only permitted to smoke in cell and the same limitations currently apply to using an e-cigarette, although this may be subject to review. Staff are only permitted to use an e-cigarette in a designated area within the establishment and then only during their official break times. Staff can bring in their own vaping devices but not any recharging equipment and they are personally responsible for the control of their devices whilst in the establishment.
How do you organise if the e-cigarette is allowed for detainees, supplies?After extensive trails we added e-cigarettes to our ‘National Product List’ that prisoners purchase from weekly. Goods are supplied through a contract with a commercial company and all prisons, both public sector and contracted out, use the same supply route for all e-cigarettes.
Staff is not aloud to smoke in correction facilities, inmates are only allowed to smoke at certain times in designated areas. If the inmates are smoking at other times and in other locations it is considered as a misconduct. E-cigarettes are not allowed due to the fact that they are difficult to frisk search.
Do you eliminate the e-cigarette? If yes, for both staff and prisoners? If not, do you organize checks, etc.?Yes, for both staff and prisoners.
How do you organise if the e-cigarette is allowed for detainees, supplies?As stated above, it is not allowed.
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In imprisonment places staff is allowed to smoke e-cigarettes in specially designated places in the territory of the imprisonment places. However, they are not allowed to bring the charging device into imprisonment place – this permission have only those officers who are allowed to use service mobile phones and the charging device for the service mobile phone is the same as for the e-cigarette.
Do you eliminate the e-cigarette? If yes, for both staff and prisoners? If not, do you organize checks, etc.?According with Regulations No.423 "Internal rules of penitentiary institution" signed by the Cabinet of Ministers on May 30, 2006 and Regulations No.800 "Internal regulations of investigation prison" signed by the Cabinet of Ministers on November 27, 2007, prisoners are allowed to keep tobacco products (cigarettes – 10 packs), gas lighter and matches. Due to the fact that electronic cigarette is not a tobacco product, prisoners are not allowed to keep and use e-cigarettes.
How do you organise if the e-cigarette is allowed for detainees, supplies?E-cigarettes are not allowed.
Electronic cigarettes are forbidden for inmates in Estonian prisons. By the current regulation, inmates can smoke only manufactured cigarettes. Cigarettes can be smoked only during their walk in the outside. Rest of the period cigarettes are on hold of the prison. Estonia has accepted a regulation in which prisons are completely tobacco free from 1st of October 2017 and any tobacco products are not allowed in the territory, including electronic cigarettes.
Do you eliminate the e-cigarette? If yes, for both staff and prisoners? If not, do you organize checks, etc.?At the moment only prison staff is allowed to smoke electronic cigarettes outside in specific places. From 1st of October 2017 Estonian prisons are completely tobacco free, with the result that prison staff can not smoke electronic cigarettes in the territory of the prison.
How do you organise if the e-cigarette is allowed for detainees, supplies?Electronic cigarettes are not allowed in Estonian prisons for inmates.
Bearing in mind all elements to preserve security system in prison, which also includes the list of permitted items which can be kept by a prisoner and the procedures regarding allowing items which are not regularly permitted, it is estimated that there are serious obstacles in terms of allowing e-cigarettes to prisoners.
Do you eliminate the e-cigarette? If yes, for both staff and prisoners? If not, do you organize checks, etc.?Prisoners are not allowed to keep and use e-cigarettes in prison, because of number of estimated security reasons (possible abuse, structure of the e-cigarette as a whole and/or it's structural and additional parts can be of concern for prison security, working procedures can be increasingly complicated (searches for example) which can lead to lower level of prisoners' safety etc.). Prison staff is allowed to use e-cigarettes if this does not result in disabling or in decreasing possibilities of surveillance over prisoners, objects and facilities/areas.
How do you organise if the e-cigarette is allowed for detainees, supplies?/
E-cigarettes are not allowed in Norwegian prisons. This restriction applies for both inmates and staff.
Do you eliminate the e-cigarette? If yes, for both staff and prisoners? If not, do you organize checks, etc.?See question 1.
How do you organise if the e-cigarette is allowed for detainees, supplies?N/A
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