Smoking is going to be banned in all prisons in England, as well as in Wales. Prisoners will be forbidden from smoking in jail, including in the exercise yards. Reports surface that inmates will be given nicotine patches to ease craving, but critics of this upcoming project wonder if that would be enough, saying that a smoking ban is a riot waiting to happen.

80 percent of the 84,300 recorded inmates are smokers. Cigarettes and tobacco for smoking is extremely valuable inside jails, and is used as a means of currency.

While smoking is occasionally banned as a disciplinary action for badly behaving prisoners, the overall ban may be more likely to cause fury among the better-behaved inmates who seek out their cigarette breaks in the exercise yards.

The ruling comes from campaigns led by prison staff, who say they object to having to breathe in secondhand smoke from the inmates.

A law had already been passed in 2007 to ban smoking in public, but the ban did not extend to the prison system. Prison staff has since been informed of the anti-smoking move earlier this month.

Officials estimate that a total ban on smoking and tobacco products in prisons will be implemented in as early as March or April next year, 2014.

The prison smoking ban is also set to be implemented in the US, specifically in the Southwest, with officials saying that staff and prisoners alike "have the right to a smoke-free environment."

However, potential difficulties following the implementation are acknowledged by officials who are moving the ban forward.

Says Steve Gillan, general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association: "There is no pretending otherwise. It could cause disturbances but they have done it successfully in Canada..."

This has not deterred critics from voicing out their concerns, however. Sources coming from within prison institutions have said that the ban came at the wrong time, pointing to problems in prison subsidization and job losses.