Tobacco.org

Despite exemption, prisons to ban smoking  

Iowa's prisons will become tobacco-free in early January even though state lawmakers exempted the institutions in a new law that bans smoking in most public places.

Prison officials are concerned about rising health care costs for inmates and believe banning smoking will help reduce those bills, said Fred Scaletta, prison spokesman.

Tobacco historically has been an important part of inmate culture. In the past decade, however, there has been a trend toward eliminating smoking in the nation's prisons.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons, with more than 200,000 inmates in 114 facilities, has been smoke-free since 2004, said spokesman Mike Truman. Surveys have shown a majority of the 50 state prison systems are either tobacco-free or have partial smoking bans.

Some observers in Iowa, though, are worried about repercussions from a smoking ban.

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