A sign of the times in all federal, and many state, prisons
Posted on 06/25/2009 1:13:38 PM PDT by BuckeyeTexan
The coin of the realm in the Big House - as penitentiaries are inevitably called in prison films - isn't money. Prisoners make only a tiny amount for their labor and are not allowed other valuables. Instead, they gamble and barter for supplies using . . . cigarettes.
A sign of the times in all federal, and many state, prisons
But not so much in real life any more. Last year, pressured by health advocates, officials banned smoking - even in exercise yards - in the nation's 115 federal prisons. And state pens - even in places like Florida, where inmates used to make cigarettes and were given free smokes any time they wanted them - are beginning to follow suit. They do so in the name of improving inmate health and cutting the cost of treating prisoners with lung cancer and other smoking-related diseases.
U.S. prisons have a cleaner, fresher look these days, now that convicts are not filling the air with tar-filled smoke
As a result of the no-smoking policy, arrests of guards as well as visitors for smuggling cigarettes have risen. According to KABC Television in Los Angeles, a contraband pack of 20 cigarettes - which would cost $6 or $7 outside prison walls - can fetch up to $125 on the inside. A cook caught at Folsom State Prison told authorities he made more money sneaking in cigarettes than he did at his job.
As a result of the crackdown on smoking behind bars, cigarettes smuggled in are commanding prices that are 10 times - or more - the going rate outside
In neighboring Nevada, which put a prison smoking ban in effect this month, the head of the employee union said he worries that inmates forced to quit "cold turkey" will turn even testier than they are already. And other correctional unions complain that officers must walk far outside prison walls in all sorts of weather to reach a place where they are allowed to light up. Of course, for most everyone else in these facilities, stepping outside for a smoke is not an option!
Read more of Ted's personal reflections and stories from the road on his blog, Ted Landphair's America.
And just wait, this is coming to the general public also.
Great assessment Capt Obvious! Don't worry though, you work for a union, you're well taken care of!
My mind always turns to the South Park episode where Cartman has to smuggle smokes into prison.
You can't smoke, can't drink, can't order pizza and there is no internet access.
Screw that.
They just want nationwide prison riots don’t they?
Cigs, heroin, weed, meth, coke...all can be had behind bars.
How about the episode about Rob Reiner and his anti-smoking campaign?
I want everyone in prison to smoke smoke smoke.
Treating someone for lung cancer now is a lot less expensive than housing them for another ten years and then treating whatever else was going to eventually kill them.
Cigarette smokers are good citizens, they pay a huge share of taxes, and die early before collecting much of their social security. Be a patriot and start smoking today!
SMOKE SMOKE SMOKE THAT CIGARETTE!!!
Gimme a break. They'll all turn chubby and depressed. It'll be good for them.
Back in the mid 60’s I went to juvenile hall. I wasn’t in for more than a couple days before I figured out how to get cigarettes.
Actually the smoking ban has more to do with second-hand-smoke legal liability.
The ban did cause tobacco to replace marijuana as the top item of contraband smuggled into correctional facilities. Prison officials like to blame family visits and packages mailed to inmates as the main sources of contraband but it is prison staff who smuggle most of it. This can range from chewing gum to cell phones to automatic pistols.
Federal law makes it a felony to smuggle any contraband into a local, state or federal correctional facility.
No cigarettes anyway.
(It’s just the Wolverines who get smoked there lately.)
In the 60’s and 70’s heroin was so easy to get in NY State Prisons that it led to the ridiculous extreme of long term prisoners having to be detoxed from prison acquired heroin habits. Today on Rikers Island, The NYC penitentiary, heroin, coke and weed are rampant. Half is brought in by visitors who are steered to certain paid-off guards during their searches and the other half is brought in by correction officers and non-uniformed workers.
I would have bet “iPods full of Obama speeches”, but apparently they are used as toilet paper.
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