Edward Dyer announced yesterday.

But he made it clear smoking will not be allowed in Casemates' corridors.

And, Mr. Dyer said, when inmates move into the new prison in November, there will be no smoking indoors.

The announcement came after Mr. Dyer met with senior prison personnel yesterday and with prisoners last week.

"My permanent objective is to achieve a smoke-free environment,'' he told The Royal Gazette . "But I realise this cannot happen overnight. So we are looking at limiting smoking in prison and starting smoke cessation programmes.'' The programme is expected to begin within a week and be coordinated by one of the prison's nursing staff who have experience with the programme.

Mr. Dyer said the prison has also been in consultation with Government Health Promotion coordinator Mrs. Ivena Laurenceo. But he stressed the smoking ban in prison corridors was effective immediately. Mr. Dyer pointed out that not all prisoners are against the smoking ban.

And he referred to a recent New York Times article which showed that many US prisons were placing more limits on smokers.

An informal 1991 survey by the Association of State Correctional Administrators in Georgia found that 51 percent of state prisons limited smoking by inmates in some way -- 30 percent prohibited it in living units and seven percent entirely smoke free.

But not all of the smoking restrictions, which have been "generally accepted'', are imposed by prisons.

Some are imposed by health-conscious, non-smoking prison officials and inmates.