Permitting guards to smoke outside prisoners' windows at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre (WCC) while enforcing a cold turkey, no-smoking policy for all inmates is a violation of human rights, residents of WCC argue.

In a series of interviews this week, inmates claim prisoners are being punished for smoking even though guards are doing the same thing on WCC property, just a few metres from where they are locked up.

Inmate Mike Gagnon said he feels his rights are being violated because he's been denied smoking privileges even though he's on remand, in custody awaiting trial, and hasn't been convicted of anything.

He said he feels WCC's no-smoking policy is unfair because while he's expected to quit smoking without help, he's forced to watch guards light up outside his cell window.

'Guards are allowed to smoke. They go outside four-or-five times a day and we have to sit there and watch them smoke,' he said.

Inmate Sam Mulholland said he can't understand how the Yukon corrections' officials could expect inmates who've been smoking for decades to quit without help and then punish them when they break WCC rules and light up.

'Some of us have been smoking for 20 years and then we come in here and they expect us to stop cold turkey,' he said.

'They don't give us anything to help us quit (so) we have to take our chances smuggling in tobacco.'

He said inmates who are found smoking are faced with penalties which include limited privileges and 'lock down.'

Inmate Bill Pearson said he's been smoking for over 40 years, can't quit on his own and would like to have the policy amended.

'Smoking still goes on at night time (but) I want to do it the legal way,' he said.

He said while he agrees with the policy of not having smoking in the building, he can't understand why inmates would not be allowed to smoke in the yard.

Inmate Jeff Blackburn said he and many other inmates suffer from drug and alcohol addiction and felt the added stress of being forced to quit smoking cold turkey was stressful for inmates.

'I think being forced to quit cold turkey is much too drastic.

'We're basically thrown in a room with a bunch of other guys who are stressed out and then told that we are not allowed to smoke. Of course it's going to get violent.'

Blackburn also claims there is no assistance offered to inmates to help them quit and no programs to help inmates deal with their addictions.

When contacted this morning,Yukon Human Rights Commission chair Emily Atkinson said if the inmates were concerned their human rights were being violated her organization was willing to go to the WCC to discuss the matter with them.

'We can certainly set up time for an interview for an initial intake,' she said.

She said if it was discovered the inmates complaints were valid an investigation into the WCC's smoking policy could be launched.

Atkinson encouraged inmates to call the human rights commission with their concerns.

Department of Justice spokesperson Dan Cable said not allowing prisoners to smoke inside the WCC, or in the outside areas accessed by inmates, was an occupational health and safety initiative to protect the health of jail workers and was a government policy passed by cabinet.

The policy, authorized by cabinet in October of 1994 and excluded the WCC until November 2004, prohibits employees and the public from smoking in government property.

'Departments are responsible for ensuring that employees and the general public are aware that smoking is not permitted in Yukon government premises,' the policy states.

The policy also states that non-government employees have a choice as to whether they will follow the rule and exemptions can be made.

'While it is intended that all occupants of Yukon government premises will respect this policy, the individual preference of visiting members will prevail.

'Exemptions will be based on the unique circumstances which make the enforcement of the policy impractical or unreasonable,' the policy states.

'When the work environment comprises of centres or institutions where people live (such as nursing homes, residences, correctional centres, etc.), an exemption may be considered to permit residents to smoke in designated areas.'

Cable said the WCC did offer a variety of treatment programs, ranging from addictions counseling to anger management, but that the facility had ceased its practice of handing out nicotine patches.

'Initially we provided the patch, but that's since stopped,' he said, adding there was nothing stopping inmates from asking their physicians for help with their nicotine addictions.

Cable said staff-delivered programs that are available to inmates on a regular basis, included: programs for sex and violent offenders; addictions' counseling; specialized staff to assist women; two full-time nurses and a doctor on contract; and mental health clinicians who are available upon referral or request.

Core programs that are available, provided at least eight inmates are interested, Cable said, include: anger management, criminal thinking, parenting skills, and livings skills.

Many inmates, Cable added, may not be taking advantage of the programs offered at the WCC.

Cable said while guards were allowed to smoke near the front entrance of the WCC next to the parking lot, the smoking area was considered a public area and not part of the jail.

The WCC, Cable added, is not the only corrections facility to bring in no-smoking rules.

In an interview Thursday, Tim Chandler, a public affairs officer with Alberta's Solicitor General's office, said Alberta's provincially run corrections' facilities were also smoke free as of September 30, 2004.

'There's no smoking inside the building and there's no smoking outside the building.

'We do provide our inmates with nicotine gum. If they really want to quit smoking, they can go that avenue,' Chandler said.

Tony Porter, a policy analyst with B.C. Corrections, said the majority of corrections centres in his province were also smoke free as they are following the intent of occupational health and safety regulations.

'We have nine corrections facilities in the province,' he said. 'Six are secure facilities and three are minimum security. There is no smoking in secure facilities and the minimum institutions have smoking outside the facility,' he said

In federal penitentiaries, according to Corrections Canada spokesperson Dennis Finlay, inmates do have access to smoking areas.

'Inmates are allowed to smoke in designated, outside areas,' Finlay said.

According to information provided by Yukon's Department of Health and Social Services, there are several immediate side effects to quitting smoking.

'The common symptoms include an intense craving for nicotine, tension, irritability, headaches, difficulty in concentrating, drowsiness and trouble sleeping, increased appetite and weight gain.

Almost all people who try to quit have some form of nicotine withdrawal. Generally, the longer one has been a smoker and the more nicotine and higher number of cigarettes consumed, the more likely it is that withdrawal symptoms will occur and the more severe they are likely to be,' the information states.

'Furthermore, people who are regular smokers tend to have particularly strong cravings and worsening of withdrawal symptoms at certain times, places, or situations associated with smoking.'