HMP Cardiff prison
© Western Mail
Report by the Independent Monitoring Board blames tobacco withdrawal amongst inmates for a series of incidents

The smoking ban in jails has sparked a rise in assaults and ­vandalism by cig-craving lags. An inspectors' report blames tobacco withdrawal for a series of incidents.

HMP Cardiff was plunged into darkness when prisoners dismantled a kettle to get sparks to light homemade cigarettes and tripped a fusebox. The desperate inmates had fashioned smokes out of tea and shredded nicotine patches after smoking was banned last year.

The report by the Independent Monitoring Board said: "There is no proof of a direct link with the ban.

"But the indirect consequences of the increase in ­offences such as damage to property, assaults, possession of unauthorised articles and disobeying lawful orders could be due to stress resulting from tobacco withdrawal. Some prisoners have a long history of smoking and their ­attempts to continue in the face of the ban lead to further numbers of disciplinary offences."

The report adds: "The smoking ban does appear to also have contributed to an increase in the use of other substances smuggled into the prison and improvised substances. The resultant fumes are unpleasant and possibly more toxic than cigarette smoke."

All prisons in England and Wales are on course to ban smoking.

The Sunday People revealed in January that lags denied cigarettes had begun smoking the class A drug Spice.

Terry Fullerton of the prison officers' union the POA said the vast majority of prisoners accepted the ban.