New York City jails to ban smoking

NEW YORK -- Lighting up a cigarette -- one of the few privileges for inmates at Rikers Island -- is about to become a thing of the past as the city joins a national trend to restrict smoking behind bars.

The new city ordinance, which goes into effect March 30, is best known for banning smoking in restaurants and bars, but it applies to virtually all workplaces.

That includes the city's 14 jails, with an estimated 14,000 prisoners and 10,000 correction officers.

Already, 17 states ban smoking in prison and another 31 have introduced smoking restrictions. While officials say it will reduce health problems, some fear it will heighten tensions in already tense places.

"There will be a great deal of resistance and anger," said Fletcher Alston, a former Rikers inmate who now counsels offenders.

Cigarettes not only relieve stress, he said, they are a common form of currency inside.

"We see this as another form of punishment, perhaps taking away one of the last personal kinds of pleasure prisoners have," added Alice Green, executive director of the Center for Law and Justice, a prisoner's rights group in Albany, N.Y.

Others see it as part of a trend to eliminate amenities behind bars. Prisoners in some parts of the country have lost access to weight rooms, television and education programs, said Drew Leder, a philosophy professor at Loyola College in Maryland and author of "The Soul Knows No Bars: Inmates Reflect on Life, Death and Hope."

R. Scott Chavez, vice president of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, said the experience of states with bans shows that medical staff will need to help inmates through nicotine withdrawal, and correction officers will have to step up efforts to seize contraband cigarettes.

"But the positive thing is that there are fewer respiratory problems" requiring medical treatment in prison, he said.

Some states have taken an incremental approach.

Kansas, for example, gave inmates a year's notice and in March will enforce a ban on tobacco use. Quit-smoking classes and methods will be offered to ease the transition.

A ban in New York state's prisons went into effect over an 18-month period beginning in 1999. Limits on smoking were gradually extended from general areas to sleeping areas and eventually to entire facilities.

The union representing New York City's correction officers has asked for a gradual ban. But Corrections Department spokesman Tom Antenen said the agency intends to go "smoke-free" when the law takes effect.

He said the department is discussing the possibility of holding classes for inmates who want to kick the habit and, perhaps, of making nicotine patches available.

"It will be hard to go cold turkey, so the city will have to be supportive," said Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, a prisoner advocacy group.