A trial smoking ban in prisons to begin in the spring hangs over prisoners' heads this Christmas.

The argument in favour of a smoking ban inside is that it is not fair for prison officers to work in a smoky atmosphere.

But since 2007 the ban on smoking in public places has meant that we can only smoke in our pads - our de facto homes - and in the exercise yard. Staff only come into our cells for the daily "bolts and bars" security check, which takes about 30 seconds.

On the other hand it is said that 80 per cent of the prison population smokes. When you have nothing else in this world, a ciggie can be your only source of enjoyment.

What about all the people in prison with mental health issues? I've known screws give tobacco to lads who are obviously not coping. What about lifers?

I can't work out what Justice Secretary Chris Grayling thinks he is going to achieve. It just seems like an easy way to sound tough. The Prison Reform Trust reckons that jails will have trouble implementing a ban. Apparently, during a trial run in one jail last year, people ended up smoking banana skins.

Make no mistake about it, the prison system has got a potential powder keg on its hands and I expect that a lot of the lads will kick right off.

There will be a significant black market for burn and people will start smuggling tobacco in on visits. But prison officers will still be able to slip outside for a fag.

When you are sentenced by the judge, your punishment is loss of liberty and all that goes with it.

You are not allowed to vote. You are locked in your pad at least 17 hours a day and you're lucky to see your family once a month. You miss out on birthdays, weddings, funerals, your children's first steps, while you are sat in a toilet watching TV.

The loss of liberty is supposed to be the punishment. Everything else is just petty-mindedness or politicians like Grayling playing macho.

But then, sitting in a prison cell all day watching the world turn is Grayling's idea of a rehabilitation revolution.

He spends money on snazzy new prison uniforms but then cuts the funding for education.

He makes up soundbites for TV and the tabloids, appearing to be tough on "lags," insisting that we have to earn our privileges - which we already do - and threatening to take away satellite television, which only a handful of private jails have anyway.

The truth is, prison authorities love the fact that most prisoners have a TV in their pads.

They wouldn't have it any other way. The digital cosh that is television keeps the majority of us content - if not comatose. This makes the guards' life a lot easier.

Sometimes I am grateful for the solitude behind my door. Time to read, time to think, time to get away from the bullshit about who's the hardest and who's "nailed" the best bird.

But I sometimes wish they would take away our televisions.

We end up staring at the things day after day. It's an amazing tool for turning the mind off.

Your brain doesn't retain information from a screen like it does when you read a book. When we are watching talent shows, Jeremy Kyle or Housewives Of Atlanta our horizons are not exactly being broadened.

Before the advent of the black box in the corner most lads used to read. They would pass the books around, talk about them and discuss ideas arising from them - especially books about the way we live, the law and prison conditions.

The talk on the landings these days should be about legal aid, justice on the cheap and Grayling's reforms.

Instead, all you hear is who wants to nail Charlotte from Big Brother or repeated catchphrases from Celebrity Juice. Nonsense, basically.

Of course our jailers are happy with this. The last thing they want is for us to pick up a book and empower ourselves with knowledge and ideas about ourselves and our fellow humans. We need to turn off the TV and switch on our minds.