prohibion inside correctional istitutes

[Chipper]

I have already posted this elsewhere and wanted to run it by those who don't see tobacco and heroin in the same category.

I just watched a documentary on the latest contraband must-have item in some prisons that hsve banned smoking in the US ... well, it's tobacco. It was stated that tobacco costs more than heroim and drugs in general

This has led quite a few Correctional Officers to compomise themselves by forming relationships with inmates through the distribution of tobacco ... they also get sacked, of course.

Can someone please verify and explain this to me? I mean, who would rather use/pay for nicotine over opiates? It just doesn't mske any sense to me.

Or is nicotime more addictive than heroin, in reallity (easier to kick nicotine but relapse rates must be higher.

[OxiContinKing]

supply and demand?

there is more of a demand for cigs than for h, so if you want to make money, are you going to sell a little bit of H or a shit load of cigs?

[dharma bum]

Are there different degrees of contraband charges?

At my local jail they smoke coffee grounds.

[Duckfeet]

cigarettes were always the main form of currency in prison, as cash money had to be smuggled in, so all gambling and dope debts, or anything of that nature was paid for in "boxes" (cartons of smokes)...and I think it's an outrage that they want to keep putting sin taxes on people...just about everybody I don't know that doesn't smoke thinks this is a *good* thing, and wlll "keep children from smoking" etc...it would have been unheard of, years ago, to think the gov't could just selectively tax anybody they felt like...why not just tax everybody over fifty? Hell, we're more obnoxious and likely to die than smokers....fuck...

And prisons just reflect the rest of society, where before people panhandled for alcohol, now the panhandle and bum smokes...

It is *not* our government's business to tax us to pay for the increasing amount of people dependent on them...look at the economic reasons for the collapse of the soviet union....prisoners will survive and get what they need...used to be, people were rather friendly about sharing smokes w/strangers, now this too, is becoming a thing of the past...

[Uncle Wiggly]

One of my nephews is a CO. He was telling me that when they started the smoking ban in prisons it led to all kinds of riots and other shit that made every ones life and jobs miserable.

He actually feels bad for the inmates because smoking was one of the few pleasures they were allowed to have. There was a faction of CO's that wanted it to happen because of the"dangers" of 2nd hand smoke.

The ones that didn't want the ban argued that it would only lead to increased violence and a whole new black market in the prison system. Apparently no one listened.

I'm not sure how it all started but I would guess our government played a large part. I could be wrong. I've never researched the whole mess and only know what my nephew has told me.

[Duckfeet]

Yep, "fat tax" is next, where you'll pay an xtra couple of bucks for hamburgers. I'm not joking, btw...and the worst part is that it's no longer an "either/or" kind of thing, but you pay sin-taxes along *with* regular taxes...it is *so* fucked up....

[Badly Drawn Girl]

Can someone please verify and explain this to me? I mean, who would rather use/pay for nicotine over opiates? It just doesn't mske any sense to me.

Do prisoners get UA'd? My thought was that it would be safer to smoke a cigarette than take the risk of using a drug that could potentially add more time to your sentence. I would go insane not being able to smoke if I was locked up. I think it's ridiculous that they banned cigarettes, thereby just creating another black market. They could be taking the money from cigarette sales to improve the facilities (as if right?) There is a lot of money to be made from nicotine.

[digby]

I never thought this would ever happen to me, but I have finally given up on this country. Quite frankly, the country and I have nothing in common anymore. The prisons are this countries most successful enterprise, and proudly display this republic's core values and beliefs. Sometimes when a relationship goes bad and you know it is beyond repair....the only thing to do is just walk away.