June 16, 1999
Rep. Rex seeking no-smoke prisons
By Erik Burriss
Staff Writer
State Rep. Rex Damschroder has introduced legislation to severely limit the use of tobacco products in three state prisons scheduled to come on line in spring and summer of 2000.
It also would apply to any prisons built in the future.
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, fearing a black-market trade in tobacco, is firmly against the bill.
House Bill 354, introduced May 22 and currently before the House State and Local Government Committee, would allow employees to smoke or chew tobacco only outside the buildings and only at specific times. The bill would prevent inmates from using tobacco entirely.
The Toledo close-security facility, scheduled to open in late summer 2000; the North Coast Correctional Treatment Facility for DUI and drug offenders and the new Conneaut facility, both scheduled to open in late spring 2000, would be the first three prisons affected.
The Corrections Medical Center and the super-maximum facility at Youngstown now are the only two prisons in Ohio that are smoke-free, although several others have smoke-free areas for inmate housing, according to Department of Corrections spokesman Joe Andrews.
"Prisons are the fastest growing area in our budget," said Damschroder, R-Fremont. He went on to say he was looking for ways to save money on prisons.
"Smoking prisoners' health care is 4-1 over nonsmokers'," he said. He also said such a comprehensive ban would save money on maintenance, both for the facilities proper and electronic equipment, such as computers, inside them.
"We're opening ourselves up to lawsuits," without such a ban he added, by non-smoking inmates exposed to second-hand smoke. The state would be forced to pay both the awards and attorneys for such lawsuits, Damschroder said.
Seneca County Sheriff H. Weldin Neff is scheduled testify today in favor of the bill before the House State and Local Government Committee.
"Our facility has been smoke-free since it was completed," Neff said.
The jail opened in May 1994, and in five years there have been "no problems at all, either with inmates or employees," Neff said.
Norm Hills, the North Region director of prisons, will testify against the bill.
According to Andrews, a tobacco ban will result in a black market. Andrews said cigarettes in a Colorado prison where smoking is prohibited sell for $5 each.
Allowing such a black market would "indicate they don't have control over their inmates," Damschroder said.
Marijuana, cocaine and other drugs can be found in prisons, Andrews said. Contraband can be thrown over the walls or brought into prisons by visitors or even "corrections officers and employees," he said.
"What would make it worse is cigarettes are legal," he said. "It would be difficult to control them from coming in the prison."
At $5 a smoke, a single carton &emdash; retail price about $25 &emdash; could net $975 profit. A 3900 percent return on investment could easily outweigh the possible penalties for getting caught, in the minds of some people, Andrews said.
As for the effect a smoking ban would have on maintenance costs, Andrews down played the possible results.
"Inmates do the cleaning," he said. Also, computers and other sensitive electronic equipment are kept in offices where smoking is prohibited.
Smoking is done in inmate areas, and electronic equipment located there "is not that fragile."
Damschroder pointed out that a smoking ban would have benefits for inmates that go beyond simple health matters.
"Where's the rehabilitation?" he said. "We need to instill good life habits."
Besides, he said, "when they are released, they likely won't find a job where they can smoke on the premises."
Damschroder also said "the Department of Corrections will have to offer programs for quitting smoking" to any smokers sentenced to one of the new facilities.
Andrews said those programs are already in place at all state correctional facilities and would be used at the new prisons whether or not House Bill 354 gets passed.
"We don't want anyone to smoke," he said. "If everyone were to quit, it would be better for us."
"(Inmates have) very little control over themselves and this is one thing they can do if they choose to," said Andrews.
"They're the lawbreakers. ... Giving them the rights of law-abiding citizens is wrong," said Damschroder. "Give them more reason to stay on the legal side of life."
According to Jeri Crabtree, Damschroder's legislative aide, heated opposition from the Department of Corrections was expected.
"There are always diverse points of view," she said.
"The bill was submitted to give maximum benefit to taxpayers," she said, "but (the Department of Corrections') preferences should have some weight because they are charged with running the prisons."