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California prison smoking ban set to take effect

Posted on: Thursday, 30 June 2005, 20:07 CDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California inmates and theirguards will no longer be able to light up starting on Fridaywhen a new law takes effect that bans smoking in the nation'slargest prison system.

The California legislature last year approved legislationthat bars tobacco products from state prisons. It also extendsto prison employees and makes California the latest state tocrack down on smoking in prisons.

The ban is aimed in part at saving money on state healthcare costs. The bill's Republican sponsor Assemblyman TimLeslie estimates about half of the state's 160,000 prisonerssmoke, costing California about $280 million each year.

But the ban has also raised concern inmates will simplyturn to the black market and drive demand for tobacco productsthat could lead to an increase in smuggling and violencerelated to illegal cigarette sales.

Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Departmentof Corrections said county jails already bar prisoners fromsmoking so many inmates were accustomed to going withoutcigarettes. She also said the state stopped selling tobacco inprisons a few months ago to prepare for the ban.

"There have been some problems," she said. "Anything thatis off limits some inmates will try to capitalize on."

Every U.S. state has limits on smoking in prison, including17 that impose total smoking bans, according to the AmericanCorrectional Association. Some allow guards to smoke or limitsmoking to areas such as recreation yards.

Texas, which boasts the nation's second biggest prisonsystem, banned all tobacco in prisons in 1994 and then in 2003passed a law making smuggling tobacco into prison a felony.

Source: REUTERS

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