A month before Virginia banned smoking in its prisons, Warden Daniel Braxton decided to kick his own 50-year smoking habit.”I figured I’d be a good role model,” said Braxton of Augusta Correctional Center in Craigsville, Va. Reported in the USA Today.

A growing number of states are cracking down on tobacco use on prison grounds to prevent illness and help bring down health care costs. Virginia, which instituted its ban in February, is the most recent state to do so, said Larry Traylor, spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections.

A USA TODAY review of the 50 states found that 25 states ban tobacco for staff and inmates on prison grounds.

Georgia plans to enact a smoking ban Dec. 1, according to Bronson Frick, associate director of the Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation.

Many other states have bans that primarily outlaw tobacco use but have some type of exception such as staff smoking areas, the review found.

The trend is growing, Frick said, because the bans help save the states money on health care and prevent guards and inmates from being exposed to secondhand smoke on the job.

“These policies work once they are in effect,” he said.

A gradual approach
Instead of a “cold turkey” approach, some prisons allowed their bans to phase in gradually, hoping that would create less of a stir among the prison populations.

In Virginia, inmates were notified in January 2009, more than a year before the ban launched, Traylor said.

“We already had eight facilities in our system that were either tobacco-free or had designated smoking areas for staff away from inmate areas,” Traylor said. “These eight facilities have proven that a gradual process is possible.”

The phase-in process for Virginia gave Braxton time to quit smoking. As for the prisoners, Braxton said he’s pretty sure some of them stashed tobacco at the facility, but none has been caught smoking.

“I’m not having any issues with them at all,” he said. “They hid some in the yard, but we have cameras, and I haven’t seen anyone dig up any tobacco.”

Ohio went tobacco-free March 1, 2009. The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections has had to discipline a few staff members over tobacco use, said Julie Walburn, chief of communication.

“In the past year, we’ve disciplined 33 staff for violations in some form of the tobacco ban, but when we employ over 13,000 staff, that really isn’t a demonstrative number,” Walburn said. Tobacco products have become a popular item on the inmate contraband market, she said.

“We are used to dealing with contraband. This is just another type,” Walburn said.

When Wyoming banned smoking in its prisons in 2006, it was more of an issue for staff than prisoners, said Melinda Brazzale, a spokeswoman for the Wyoming Department of Corrections.

“They did not break the rule, however,” she said. “They were used to just walking out the door and smoking, and now they actually had to go across a road or out of the facility and be away from it.”

Some opposition
Not all plans to ban prison smoking have been successful. Arizona attempted to ban smoking in its state prisons last year, but the legislation failed.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Rep. Bill Konopnicki, said there are plans to reintroduce the bill.

Michael McFadden, a spokesman for the Citizens Freedom Alliance, which mostly focuses on government interference with private-property owners, said the group is concerned with what prison smoking bans mean.

“Bans on smoking in prisons are not really separate from such things as bans on beaches, bans in bars or bans in private apartments: They are all facets of a larger and very well-funded movement to ban smoking from all aspects of life,” he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project supports some bans, Director David Fathi said, because in some cases, smoking in prisons can be a violation of the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits “cruel and unusual punishments.”

“Just like prisoners have the right to drink clean water and eat edible food, prisoners have the right to breathe non-contaminated air,” he said.

Braxton said he’s glad he got the opportunity to see the benefits of not smoking, which have surfaced in the months since he quit.

“I can tell there’s a big, big improvement in my health just in that short period,” he said.

jchev Smoking, United States

Cigarettes are prohibited in South Carolina prisons but treated as a privilege in the Spartanburg County jail. Reported in the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.

Powers tried banning cigarettes years ago after issuance of a county ordinance, but two officers began selling cigarettes for $1 apiece, paper matches for 10 cents and a “striker” for 50 cents. The officers were fired.

The Department of Corrections prohibited cigarettes to all inmates and employees in January 2008. Officers are patted down daily to prevent contraband cigarettes being brought into the facilities.

Spokesman Josh Gelinas said the department conducted smoking cessation seminars and distributed nicotine gum to prison inmates before the ban. Gelinas said corrections officials have observed a higher demand for tobacco than other illicit substances and continue to monitor attempts to smuggle cigarettes into facilities.

Jail Director Larry Powers said, based on studies and personal experience, he believes allowing inmates controlled access to cigarettes prevents a black market from developing to sell cigarettes and reduces the personnel hours required to enforce such a ban.

Powers said the legality of cigarette purchases “on the outside” as opposed to narcotics leads to an ample supply for those who might be tempted to smuggle banned cigarettes. Based on that, as well as employees’ desire to smoke, Powers chose to reinstate cigarettes that are sold in packs through the jail’s canteen as a privilege and designate an outside exercise area as the place where inmates can smoke. Powers also designated areas where staff can smoke. He said a survey conducted a few years ago revealed that about 70 percent of Spartanburg County jail employees smoke.

Generic cigarettes are sold for $4.90 per pack, and name brand cigarettes are sold for $5.52 per pack, Powers said. Those prices will go up if a proposed increase in state taxes is passed. The money from the cigarette and other canteen purchases is used to buy basketballs, checkers and chess sets and televisions for inmate use, Powers said.

Last week’s temporary move of female inmates from the main facility on California Avenue to the former jail next to the Spartanburg County Courthouse — now called Annex I — required creation of a separate smoking policy. Some women complained this week about stale air, warm temperatures and problems using the phone.

Powers said the complaints were unfounded. He said Annex I, which is usually used to hold inmates before their court appearances, was inspected and approved by the state as a temporary housing facility. He said ventilation is “somewhat restricted” in Annex I, which was built in 1956 and first occupied in 1958, because officials place plastic over windows to keep in the heat during the winter.

Plans to replace the current windows were put on hold about two years ago because of funding. Powers said the phone service provider worked on correcting issues with the phones this week. Many inmates fumed about not being able to smoke as many cigarettes as they could before the move.

Powers said because Annex I does not have a sprinkler system, the inmates housed there are not allowed to possess smoking materials. Female inmates who request a cigarette are given one at no charge during their outdoor time in a fenced-in area, and the cigarette butts are collected before the inmates return to the building. Powers reminded the female inmates they are in jail.

“The female inmates are right in that they cannot purchase and possess cigarettes, but they can smoke if they retain that privilege, albeit limited,” Powers said. “Again, smoking is not a right. Rather, it is a privilege.”

jchev SC Spartanburg County, Smoking

A brand new prison is taking credit for the plummeting crime rate in the Isle of Man. News from the Daily Mail.

But it is not the fear of being locked up that is making criminals think twice before stealing, fighting or trading in drugs. The prospect of being forced to give up smoking is apparently far more frightening.

The £42million jail, which opened last year, is Europe’s only non-smoking prison. Inmates and guards are not allowed to smoke either in or outside the buildings.

With just under 100 prisoners, there is plenty of room for more, with at least 40 cells empty. The Isle of Man, already one of the safest places in Britain, has seen a 14 per cent drop in crime since the jail opened, or rather closed, its doors in August 2008.

Prisoners arriving at the jail are told they have no choice but to give up smoking and are offered nicotine patches and counselling to help them cope. An Isle of Man police source said: ‘There are 200 officers on this island and anything which makes our lives easier is welcome news.

‘It has become a standing joke that when we nick someone we remind them that if they get sent down they’ll have to come off the cigarettes – their faces are a picture.’

In the last 12 months, the number of burglaries has plunged by more than 35 per cent, there has been a 25 per cent drop in the number of assaults, and the number of people caught stealing cars has fallen by seven per cent.

Domestic assaults fell 11 per cent and criminal damage offences dropped eight per cent.

The crime rate on the Isle of Man was already low, with experts saying it is down to ‘low unemployment and high community spirit’, but also that the criminal justice system takes a hard line on crimes, with even small crimes often resulting in imprisonment.

One former prisoner, who spent six months there, said the smoking ban had cons ‘crawling up the walls’ in desperation for a nicotine fix. The inmate, who didn’t want to be named, said today: ‘As soon as you get to the prison they take your fags and lighter off you.

‘It came as a big surprise to a lot of us – smoking is something that helps people doing time stay sane – it’s something to do with all that time you have on your hands.’ He added: ‘As soon as word got round that it wasn’t a joke and that all smoking was banned, even in the exercise yard, a lot of people I know started having second thoughts about committing crimes.

‘It was something they genuinely feared. Not prison itself, but the idea of being forced to give up smoking. Some of my mates have simply given up crime, whether it be stealing cars, shoplifting to order or burglary, as a direct result of the smoking ban.’

A spokeswoman for the prison said that the huge drop in recorded crime could not be ‘wholly attributed’ to the non-smoking prison, but said the non-smoking status of the prison was now a well known fact on the island.

She said: ‘The No-Smoking Premises Regulations 2007 are well known throughout the Island. All smoking prisoners are offered every assistance through our professionally qualified medical team and prescribed nicotine replacement therapy in accordance with clinical guidance.’

Home Affairs Minister Martyn Quayle, said at the opening of the prison: ‘It’s been a very difficult issue to reflect the fact that we are not going to please everybody. Certainly the prison officers have a right to enjoy a no-smoking environment as much as their counterparts in the civil service working outside the prison.

The Department considered a total ban was the right policy to adopt. Chief Inspector Simon Lowe, of the Isle of Man Constabulary, said today: ‘Anything that helps reduce crime is welcomed by the police.’

A Facebook group has even been set up to fight for the right to smoke in the prison and already has 218 members. The group called ‘Allow smokers to smoke in the Isle of Man prison’ states: ‘This group is really more of a petition against the banning of prisoners smoking in the new prison on the Isle of Man.

‘Smoking being banned in the entire prison is an absolute joke and an infringement against human rights by do-gooders.

‘At least let the people who are in (prison) smoke outside. It’s the only prison in Europe that has this rule.’

jchev Smoking, United Kingdom

Prisoners and workers at the Department of Corrections are about to deal with a big change. Story from WALB News.

The Department is banning tobacco use at its 37 facilities. In 1995, they banned the use inside buildings and that led to a riot by state prisoners in Lee County. This time they hope phasing it out gradually will ease inmates into the transition.

The state prison system is following the lead of facilities like the Dougherty County Jail that has been tobacco free for 15 years and Lee County Jail that went tobacco free nine months ago. Prison leaders say it’s counter productive for inmates to give up smoking in jail only to start lighting up again in a state facility.

By the end of 2010 Georgia’s state prisons will be tobacco free. The Georgia Department of Corrections says it’s a move that will improve the health of inmates and save tax money by cutting health care costs.

“With tobacco use contributing greatly to health issues and health problems, that’s something that we are always cognizant of when it come to the budget, is making sure we contain our health costs this is one of the ways to help do that as well,” said Michael Nail, Deputy Director of the Corrections Division.

The Dougherty County Jail banned tobacco products in 1995 when the new jail opened, it’s meant a cleaner facility, but created a new problem.

“It has become the largest items of contraband in the jail,” said Col. Doug McGinley, the Dougherty County Jail Administrator.

Family and friends have gone as far to leave tobacco outside the guard line for work details. The Department of Corrections says while tobacco may be the new contraband it may cut back on other dangerous substances.

“What is increased in contraband is tobacco, ironically the possession of drugs as contraband actually goes down, so in one sense of it while you still have some contraband by way of tobacco you’re minimizing the drug contraband,” said Nail.

Dougherty Jail Officials say it’s been a while since they’ve had a complaint.

“Surprisingly it’s been 10 or 12 years since we’ve had a complaint from the inmates that this is a tobacco free facility,” said McGinley.

The state’s ban of the substance will also mean a loss in the revenue, right now they can sell cigarettes in the commissary, but that will end when the ban takes affect.

Over the next two weeks, inmates will get information from the Department of Corrections explaining how the tobacco ban will take place.

The ban will start January first when tobacco use will be banned at two diagnostic facilities where inmates are evaluated before being transferred into the state system.

The Augusta State Medical Prison will be next followed by other state facilities.

jchev Georgia, Smoking