planned ban on smoking at Casemates Prison after 80 inmates handed him a petition yesterday.

But he said that smoking will be totally banned from the new prison when it opens its fume-free doors in November.

Mr. Dyer received a petition from 80, or about half of Casemates inmates, of the prisoners asking for the ban to be "slowed down'' until the move to the new prison.

The ban was expected to be introduced quickly with help given to long-term smokers who had to give up.

Mr. Dyer is fully behind the ban which has been imposed on many Government buildings as part of an anti-smoking campaign.

After receiving the petition yesterday, he said: "The petition says that they understand why I wish to introduce the ban because of health reasons.

"But they have asked if I can slow down the process because we had an early deadline.

"I will discuss this and we should have the ban in place by mid-November when we move into the new facility.'' And Mr. Dyer made it clear that the ban would cover the entire prison grounds.

He said: "There is already a ban inside some Government buildings.

"As far as I am concerned the prison walls constitute the building in the new prison. There will be no smoking.'' Prison staff will also be restricted and only allowed to smoke when they have left the prison.

Mr. Dyer said he was not concerned that prisoners may need to smoke to ease tension, because it is contrary to prison rules.

But the rules had never been enforced.

"Obviously we can't just suddenly ban it, there will be some assistance for the prisoners to cease smoking,'' he said.