The consultation, which runs until the end of November, follows the successful implementation of smoke-free prisons in Scottish, English and Isle of Mann prisons in recent years.

Austin Treacy, director of prisons in the NI Prison Service, said: “While we have a policy in place that restricts the areas within a prison where people in our care may smoke, thereby reducing the exposure of smoke to others, it is still not acceptable that those in our care and those who work in our prisons should be exposed to second-hand smoke and this means removing smoking from our prisons.

“This will be a significant challenge as the percentage of people who smoke in prisons is higher than the general community. I fully understand how difficult it will be for many in our care to give up smoking – that is why we are committed to working alongside our partners to provide every support possible to assist them.”