Jump to full article: Canadian Television (CTV), 2009-10-14
Author: CTV.ca News Staff
Intro: Nineteen Quebec inmates are fighting a smoking ban inside prisons, saying it infringes on their quality of life and threatens the safety of other inmates.
The federal prisoners, which include a number of high profile biker gang members as well as an infamous drug kingpin, say that the ban violates their charter rights.
"The sentence in a penitentiary or in a prison is in itself a terrible, terrible punishment that is hard to bear and is very difficult for a person to go through, and there's no reason to make it worse," said prominent Montreal human rights lawyer Julius Grey, who helped the inmates launch their lawsuit Wednesday.
They say the smoking ban makes them stressed, angry and aggressive, and that if all prisoners are not allowed to smoke, it could make life dangerous for everyone inside.
. . .
The prisoners who launched the suit include notorious drug trafficker Gerald Matticks, biker gang member Benoit Guimond, and Daniel Patry, who killed well-loved children's TV puppeteer Pierre Regimbald.
Federal prisons banned smoking inside and outside while on prison property in 2008. . . .
The union that represents 6,000 prison guards says tensions have decreased since the ban was put into place.
"In the year and a half since the tobacco has been in place we have not seen one single incident that can be attributed to the ban on tobacco," said Lyle Stewart of the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers.
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