The Women's Community Correctional Center will ban smoking next month, becoming the only state prison that does not allow inmates to light up.

WCCC acting warden Eric Tanaka has already notified the more than 250 convicts at the prison in Kailua that cigarettes will be prohibited after Nov. 16, said Louise Kim McCoy, communications director for the state Department of Public Safety.

Staff at the prison estimate more than half of the inmates are smokers, and the prison medical unit plans to make nicotine patches and other items available to help the inmates quit, McCoy said.

The prison kitchen also plans to distribute celery and carrot sticks for convicts to snack on to quell their cravings, and McCoy said the prison has stocked up on lollipops.

"We recognize that smoking is an addiction," McCoy said. "There's going to be obviously a huge adjustment for a majority of the inmate population."

A similar smoking ban was imposed on Oct. 1 on Hawai'i women convicts who are serving their sentences at the Otter Creek Correctional Center, a privately run prison in Kentucky. Hawai'i houses about 150 women inmates at Otter Creek.

Kat Brady, coordinator of the Community Alliance on Prisons, said it is unwise to ban smoking in prison because that creates a black market for smuggled cigarettes. It also puts more stress on inmates who are already struggling to cope, she said.

"We have a lot of people in prisons who are getting over addictions and trying to recover from using illegal drugs, and now we're taking away one of the few things that they depend on," Brady said. "It's a bad management decision to take away something they depend on in a stressful situation."

Tanaka is imposing the ban because it will benefit the inmates' health, and a healthier inmate population will reduce the amount of money the state must spend in the long term on prisoner healthcare, McCoy said.

Having the inmates refrain from smoking will also set a better example for children who visit their mothers at the women's prison, McCoy said.

The smoking ban will not extend to prison staff, however. McCoy said corrections officers and other staff will be allowed to continue smoking in designated areas. Staff members "have been encouraged to be discreet and sensitive to the situation," she said.

Five Hawai'i women inmates were charged with felonies last year for allegedly attempting to smuggle cigarettes into a non-smoking prison in Colorado where they were being held, but the cases were dropped when the inmates were moved to Kentucky. Two inmate family members and two prison employees were also charged in those cases.

McCoy said the prison system is "very aware of the history, and we're going to be obviously alert."

McCoy said cigarettes will be considered prison contraband after Nov. 16, but said Tanaka "will be lenient for the first few weeks" because he understands the inmates will be adjusting to the new policy.

Cigarettes are not allowed in the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu, where some Hawai'i women prisoners are held, and are also not permitted at the Kaua'i Community Correctional Center, Kaua'i's only jail.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.