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| Smoking Inmates Hit with Charges in Canada |
| By The Edmonton Sun |
| Published: 04/03/2006 |
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More than 120 charges have been laid against Canadian inmates who've defied a new smoking ban at the maximum-security Edmonton Institution. Now the officers union and an anti-smoking lobby group says Correctional Service of Canada should outright ban smoking and tobacco in penitentiaries. "That's been our position from Day 1," said Kevin Grabowsky, Union of Canadian Correctional Officers prairie region president. "That's the only way it'll be a smoke-free environment." The Correctional Service of Canada banned smoking indoors on Jan. 31. But prisoners can still smoke outside. Inmates have been caught lighting up 121 times, said CSC spokesman Cathy Stocki. Penalties range from a $25 fine to loss of privileges like going to the gym. Stocki said CSC has no plans to revisit the policy, which was developed with the help of a number of groups and balances the rights of inmates - who call penitentiaries home - and workers. "We don't have the right to take away their right to smoke," she said. Edmonton John Howard Society executive director Maureen Collins said while her group applauds CSC for trying to make the jail a safer place for inmates and staff, inmates aren't free to leave. "This is their home and this is where they are," she said. Fining inmates $25 creates a hardship for those who don't have income, she added. "Any withdrawal of privileges and a fine for people who don't have the resources is incredibly harsh," said Collins. Action on Smoking and Health executive director Les Hagen said CSC should have followed the provincial government's lead on smoking in provincial jails. Alberta banned smoking in all parts of correctional facilities on Sept. 30, 2004. "I think Corrections is inviting problems by continuing to allow smoking on prison property ... I really think they should have followed Alberta's lead," Hagen said. |
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