A NON-SMOKING prison inmate is campaigning for his right to breathe clean air, adding his name to the list of individuals fighting against passive smoking.
This is the second current case of an individual taking up the anti-smoking cause, following an ongoing demonstration outside the House of Representatives by Andri Olympiou. Olympiou quit her managerial position at an offshore company because she could no longer bear her colleagues’ smoking and said she felt sick every day.
According to a report from the Ombudsperson, Andreas Onoufriou has filed a complaint against the Prisons Department saying he is being subjected to heavy cigarette smoke against his will.
Onoufriou says that his request to be moved to a clean air area have been ignored as there is no non-smoking prison wing at the Central Prison.
Ombudsperson Eliana Nicholaou’s report continued that Onoufriou, who is serving an 18-month sentence for an unnamed offence, says he has already suffered damage to his health and, following medical advice, has begun using an inhaler pump.
"As Onoufriou described the situation, particularly during the evening hours when approximately 60 inmates smoke in a television room with the windows closed against the cold weather, a cloud of smoke is created in the hallway outside his cell, and extends into his cell."
Nicholaou’s report said it was known that the prison was overcrowded and that a non-smoking wing "at least under current conditions, would be a luxury".
The Ombudsperson said that a solution recommended by Prison Director Haris Themistokleous, that Onoufriou be moved to a cell further from the television room had not been accepted by the prisoner. The wing housing Onoufriou is made up of 32 cells — at the time of Nicholaou’s investigation these held 63 prisoners.
He is currently living one cell and a staircase away from the television lounge.
Nicholaou said that radical changes would have to be made for Onoufriou’s demand to be satisfied; an air circulation system would need to be set up in the wing, in the TV lounge and in the hall. She recommended that a study be carried out into whether similar systems were required in other wings.
The Ombudsperson was introduced in Cyprus in January 1991 and is filled by Presidential appointment. If an administration does not comply with the suggestions made in the Ombudsperson’s report, a >Special Report’ regarding non-compliance may be issued to the Council of Ministers and the House of Representatives. It is then a matter for the Council of Ministers or House.
