System Aims to Be Tobacco-Free by February 2010, Following a National Trend in Corrections
Jump to full article: The Washington Post, 2009-06-16
Author: Amy Gardner Washington Post Staff Writer
Intro: Virginia corrections officials have quietly begun banning cigarettes in some state prisons and plan to make the entire system tobacco-free by February 2010. The health measure follows a national trend but has left public-safety advocates worried that inmate control could become more difficult.
The policy represents the latest in a series of anti-smoking steps taken in a state where tobacco has dominated the economy and politics for generations. A ban on smoking in restaurants goes into effect Dec. 1, and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) began the process in late 2006 of banning smoking in most state office buildings.
"We've all seen the writing on the wall, all around the country and over the past several years," said Larry Traylor, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections. He said prisoners and employees of Virginia's 32,600-inmate system were notified this year that tobacco would be banned completely after a one-year implementation period.
Already, eight of 40 prisons are either smoke-free or allow employees to smoke only in designated areas away from inmates . . .
Virginia follows the federal prison system, as well as states including California, Texas, Michigan and Colorado, in instituting smoking bans in prisons over the past few years. Maryland has banned tobacco products at all 24 state prisons, inside and out, since 2001.
As in other states, the effort in Virginia has raised concerns about maintaining safety in state prisons.
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