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Inmates riot against smoking ban breaks out at maximum prison of Melbourne

30 June 2015 22:14 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Around 300 inmates demonstrated on Tuesday at the maximum prison of Australia's second largest city of Melbourne in a bid to oppose a smoking ban in the state of Victoria due on Wednesday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

According to the police and credible sources, those prisoners waving sticks smashed windows and lit fire at the 1000-bed facility which locates in Ravenhall, 24 km west of Melbourne CBD area.

A total of 200 staff were evacuated and all state prisons were locked down as a precaution.

Corrections commissioner Jan Shuard was quoted by the ABC news as saying that "a very large group" of inmates had "created a big disturbance" at the prison.

She said the riot may have been related to a state-wide smoking ban in Victorian prisons, however it had not yet been confirmed.

Many armed police carrying shield and guns were seen around the facility and gunshots were heard in the late afternoon, a local witness told Xinhua, adding It's not clear if the gunshots were caused by tear gas or gunfire, and dense smoke was swirling and billowing above the courtyard.

However, the inmates were unable to breach the perimeter and the public security was not affected, according to Shuard.

The Victorian government flagged the smoking ban last year, and the Corrections Department has been working with Quit Victoria, the state's anti-smoking body, to formulate programs specifically for the prison population.

More than 80 percent of inmates smoke but only 20 percent had attended quit programs up until the end of May this year.

Shuard told ABC the plan aims to reduce the number of smokers in the state's 14 penitentiaries, and encourage exercise as a way to quell the cravings.

"This has been 18 months in the making. We've had a very long- term project in place to work with both our staff and the prisoners in preparing for (the ban)," she said.