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| Kentucky Jail Goes Smoke-Free |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 01/09/2006 |
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Some of Kentucky's jails and prisons, where inmates smoke at even greater percentages than the general population, have already banned smoking or sent smokers to designated areas. Now the Kentucky State Reformatory near La Grange, the state's largest prison with more than 1,800 inmates and 500 staff members, is going smoke-free April 1. "It's going to be tough to implement," said Ernie Lewis, chief of Kentucky's public defender system. The Department of Public Advocacy has taken no position on smokeless cells, but Lewis noted that nicotine is just another addiction to some inmates and cigarettes, which are now a form of currency inside the walls, could become another form of contraband. "I just think they've got their work cut out for them," Lewis said. According to a survey by the Corrections Department, 30 full-service jails in the state allow smoking, 17 are smoke-free and eight allow smoking only in their secure sections. Fifty-five of the 75 full-service jails responded to the survey. The Simpson County Jail became smoke-free in July, Jailer Danny Booher said. "The results have been fantastic so far. I don't know why we didn't do it sooner," Booher told the Daily News of Bowling Green. Corrections spokeswoman Cheryl Million said no smoking is allowed in offices at the prisons, and smoking is permitted only in designated areas at most institutions. The Kentucky State Penitentiary near Eddyville, the state's only maximum-security prison, allows smoking in some cell blocks, Million said. |
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