Barlinnie prison Governor Michael Stoney joins us for the first instalment of GFN Insights, a series following the exploits of THR advocates from around the globe!
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Joanna Junak: During my short visit to London, I met with Michael Stoney, the governor of Scotland's largest prison, Barliny. He shared insights with me about smoking and vaping in the prison. Let's hear what he had to say. Scotland's biggest prison, Barliny, introduced a smoking ban while simultaneously allowing prisoners to use safer nicotine products. As the governor of Barliny, can you tell me what was the purpose of implementing the smoking ban in the prison?
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Michael Stoney: Well it was a public health issue that initially began as staff were concerned on the second hand smoke issue and we did a study in terms of the air quality and the air quality was pretty bad, pretty contaminated. So it was more about the people that work in the prison and others who live in the prison who were subjected to secondhand smoke. So we knew we had to do something about it from a health and safety perspective. So that was the point where we decided that we were going to ban cigarettes and tobacco products.
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Joanna Junak: Okay, and to help manage the transition, the Scottish Prison Service introduced safer nicotine alternatives.
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Michael Stoney: Yes.
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Joanna Junak: And what kinds of products are accessible to prisoners?
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Michael Stoney: Well, through the harm reduction strategy initially from NHS, it was more about gums and patches. But what we wanted to do was give people an alternative choice. So that's when we chose to allow vapes to be purchased. So we agreed a contract with our main supplier, and they were allowed to purchase vapes weekly through their canteen products. So it was very heavily subsidized on entry. And gradually, over two years, we removed that subsidy. So we increased the price of the vape and the capsules. But it was about a two-year period. just to get people transitioned over and also for the good order and running of the prison as well.
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Joanna Junak: So how is this initiative working now?
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Michael Stoney: perfectly. The transition was exceptionally smooth with no issues whatsoever, no reaction from the prisoner group. The vape uptake was instantaneous, those that were on the tobacco swapped over. Very little recourse from prisoners, very little They understood the rationale, they understood the reasons, but we spent a good eight to nine months explaining this and working through the issues with them before we introduced the ban. So everybody had plenty of time to know what was coming in. And the only issues you would get after that was those that were newly admitted who had been using tobacco products right up to the point of court. And they struggled in the first week or so to come to terms with that because they hadn't been involved. But shockingly smooth transition.
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Joanna Junak: Okay, and has this initiative had any impact on illicit use of cigarettes within the prison?
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Michael Stoney: Yes, very, very exceptionally rare. You would find any smuggled in or any signs of smuggled in tobacco products. Very rare. They can illicitly use vapes for other substances, but people are always going to try and beat the system in terms of how they would use drugs. But in terms of just tobacco, no, we don't see any introduction of tobacco.
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Joanna Junak: Right. Thank you so much.
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Michael Stoney: Thank you.