Making a link between the smoking ban at Jurby prison and falling crime figures in the Isle of Man is a 'fanciful idea', dreamed up by a journalist from the United Kingdom who interviewed a former inmate.
That's Home Affairs Minister Adrian Earnshaw's view of an article in the Daily Mail, which claimed the fear of not being able to 'light up' once inside was a greater deterrent than being locked up in a cell.
Mr Earnshaw says the article showed the Island in a good light, in that it has the only prison in Europe where smoking isn't allowed.
But he doesn't accept there is any connection with crime rates:
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