Morning Meeting – Friday, February 15, 2002

Friday, February 15, 2002

New Population Profile Released Today
Did you know that:

– young women in the United States are more educated than young men? -the majority of children now have access to a computer both at home and at school?
-people who move long distances are five times more likely to do so for a work-related reason than those who move short distances?

These are some of the facts contained in an Internet-only report released today by the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau titled The Population Profile of the United States: 2000 . Using previously released data, the report profiles the country’s demographic, socioeconomic and housing trends.


No Smoking in Prison Creates New Smuggling Problem
Cigarettes used to be like money in prison. Now, a growing number of state prison systems are banning smoking. This month, Nebraska joined the list of states banning cigarettes from prison. In some states it is part of a no-smoking policy in all state buildings. I have seen other stories that have said the states and counties are trying to do anything they can to improve inmate health and keep healthcare costs down.
An interesting problem is arising. Tobacco is becoming the number one contraband for inmates. MaineNewstoday.com reports,”Tobacco has become the hottest illicit commodity in Maine prisons since 2000, when the Legislature banned smoking in state prisons. Like other addictive drugs, tobacco commands exorbitant prices in prison. Some inmates have accumulated huge “tobacco debts” they are unable to pay. Many prisoners and even a few guards have been tempted into the illegal trade by the potential for huge profit.”

Remember, that many of these inmates started smoking when they were very young. Inmates are not the only ones who have to quit. Guards have to stop too. The pressure was so high in some prisons that the Georgia Department of Corrections repealed its no smoking rules after prisoners brawled over contraband cigarettes selling for $20 a pack.

The AP published a story right after the smoking ban in Pennsylvania in 1998 that said, “”We had a Christmas tree in the hallway that they had to take down because someone tried to smoke it,” said Dennis Carter, an inmate in Philadelphia, where prisons banned smoking Jan. 1. “You got people going crazy because they can’t smoke.” Inmates have smoked grass, dirt, orange rinds or apple peels wrapped in toilet paper. At $2.20 per box, tea bags also are popular smoking substitutes.”


In 1997, when Minnesota banned smoking in prison, 75% of all inmates smoked.
I have to believe this is causing some tension in the prisons and jails. Do states give smoking cessation classes? According to The Baltimore Sun, “Fights in Dallas jails tripled in the three months after a smoking ban was instituted without nicotine substitutes in October (2000). Similarly, nicotine substitutes are not available to Maryland’s inmates. Nicotine gum wasn’t an option because even regular gum is considered contraband, said Anthony Swetz Jr., director of medical services for inmates. Patches and medication prescribed to mitigate the effects of nicotine withdrawal all have potential side effects and would have cost an estimated $2.5 million, he said. Swetz said prisoners in some states were rolling up the nicotine patches and smoking them.

And–this angle. In Greenville, SC, an inmate is suing the state for putting him in a jail where he is surrounded by smokers.

I imagine that ministers, social workers and visitation groups, such as churches, notice the pressure and might make great interviews.

See:
Maryland’s smoke free prison law
Connecticut’s ban


Inmates Forced to Pay for Ketchup
I found this story on a website for prison administrators. It is an interesting site with lots of story ideas.
In Pennsylvania, “County jail officials have set down a new policy for inmates: Condiments will cost you. Starting this week, prisoners will have to purchase items like ketchup, mustard, salt, pepper and sugar if they want to spice up their meals. Warden Thomas Hogan said the policy is being implemented to save money, and because prisoners often trash the condiments. Hogan didn’t have a price list for the items, but a letter sent to The York Dispatch by prisoner Leroy Freeman and signed by 20 inmates said the prison will charge 8 cents for a ketchup or relish packet, 10 cents for a mustard or tartar-sauce packet, $2.10 for 100 sugar packets, 25 cents for 10 salt or pepper packets and 6 cents for an Equal packet.”


The PepperBall
The same website, Corrections.com included an interesting story about the Federal Bureau of Prisons approving the “Pepperball” for use in 90 federal prisons. The story says hundreds of other prisons and police squads use it as a non-lethal tool for quelling riots and unruly prisoners.. Have you done a story on the PepperBall?