Abstract
Background: In recent years, the Czech Republic has implemented effective tobacco control strategies. Interventions and public health concerns are particularly focused on the general population, while very little attention is paid to the prison subpopulation, despite the fact that the prevalence of smoking among prisoners has been found to be approximately three times higher than in the general population.
Aims: To map the prevalence of smoking among prisoners and to determine the degree of their dependence on nicotine. Methods: The sample consisted of male prisoners in one prison in the Czech Republic (n=1214).
The source of data was the SARPO Prison Predictive System in 2017, from which information on smoking was obtained. For selected smokers (n=48), nicotine dependence was assessed using the Cigarette Dependence Scale (CDS) self-assessment questionnaire.
Results: There were 1038 daily smokers (85.5%) and 176 non-smokers (14.5%) in the prison population. In the questionnaire survey on a non-representative sample of prisoners, a medium dependency on nicotine was found in the majority of the smokers - 33 (68.8%).
Conclusion: Compared with data from the general population, the prevalence of smokers in the Czech prison population is approximately three times higher. Although the prevalence of smoking among prisoners is high, there is a lack of professional help and advice on smoking cessation which should take into account the specific conditions of imprisonment, particularly psychological distress and the ubiquitous boredom.