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| Tobacco ‘drug of choice’ inside |
| By The News Tribune |
| Published: 04/02/2008 |
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WASHINGTON - Tobacco isn’t allowed in Washington’s prisons, but that hasn’t stopped some inmates from lighting up. Smoking has gone underground since a 2004 statewide ban, making cigarettes and tobacco products a popular and lucrative form of contraband – and a headache for prison administrators. Systemwide statistics weren’t available from the Department of Corrections, but cigarettes, loose tobacco, rolling papers and fire sources were some of the most frequently seized items at one South Sound prison in 2007, a News Tribune review of records found. Tobacco products were found and seized at least 127 times at McNeil Island Corrections Center last year. That averages out to roughly one in every 10 inmates at the 1,300-man facility being caught with tobacco. It’s definitely the inmates’ “drug of choice,” said McNeil Island prison superintendent Ron Van Boening. “There are more smokers than users of other kinds of drugs,” he said. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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The State of Oklahoma has the sam stance on tobacco. The ban has created a black market were the price on the yards is higher than that of a joint. The countless man hours spent on finding or dealing with the contraband is out of control. I fully understand the resonds behind the state's take on the issue and support it also. However the flip side is a costly one and the interity of vistors and mainly staff is pushed to new limits. Since the ban the numbers of staff investigations and terminations has been very high due to the high money paied by the inmates. I wish more staff had a higher standared thay make us all look bad.
As a former smoker I certainly am simpatico. But what remains a greater problem is the COs and DOs who continue to smoke and given the right (or wrong)impetus might compromise their ethics at best and probably the facility rules at least. The mindset of those who smoke or use tobacco tends to rationalize a practice that can be as destructive if not more so than heroin. When I quit 16 months ago I swore not to be one of those former smokers who becomes a self-righteous pain for those exercising their free choice, but I've recently seen young officers demolish their careers because they sympathized with those fellow smokers who were incarcerated and should have no access to tobacco. Just say "No!" and consider quiting yourself.