NEWS: Smoking bans spread to prisons

Originally posted by AgentSmith
Is there a no smoking ban on prisoners on Death Row? to look after their health?
Sorry couldn't help myself, it seems so stupid...........

You know, this isn't as stupid as you think. Why use an alcohol swipe prior to sticking in a needle intended to produce death? There's not a lot of logic here.

Originally posted by AgentSmith
Is there a no smoking ban on prisoners on Death Row? to look after their health?
Sorry couldn't help myself, it seems so stupid...........

You bet! They even get first chance at organ transplants because the state is obligated to keep them in good health until their sentence is carried out

Ban smoking in the prisons, let them smoke on chain gangs.

Take away the tv and there's gonna be a riot. In fact, many times the tv is used as a control device to make the prisoners behave. Anyone who thinks prison is too soft or too "fun" doesn't know jack about prison. Non violent offenders in with violent, sometimes psychotic ones. The guy caught with an ounce of weed in with gang members. Someone very violent can be in for a fairly light offense. Doesn't make them any less dangerous. If you think it's coddling or luxurious to be a non-violent person just trying to make it through your time, and suddenly end up with a cellmate who introduces himself by threatening to beat you to death if you piss him off, you're out of your mind.

And honestly, some of the guards are on the wrong side of the bars. Hell, two of the Abu Ghraib offenders were corrections officers in civillian life. It isn't how people think it is. Not all prisoners are scumbags, and yes, some absolutely don't deserve to be there. If they're worried about second hand smoke, which is a load, they should break it down to smoking and non-smoking areas just like they do on the outside. Except in places where they've taken away the business owners' right to make those distinctions and forced them to ban it altogether, thus driving away a significant portion of their customer base. Prisons don't have that problem, having a captive customer base. They run one hell of a racket in there as far as Canteen items goes. I'm surprised they'd give up something as lucrative as cigarette sales.

Torque,

I understand what point you are trying to make. What I don't get is the fact that your concerned with a person who got caught with an ounce of weed is in with gang members. Don't you think that if you have an ounce of weed on your possession that if you get caught you know what would happen to you? Maybe they shouldn't have taken that chance to begin with.

I agree they shouldn't have taken that chance, however they are sentenced to spend x amount of time without their freedom. They are sentenced to spend x amount of time behind bars to pay their debt to society. This sentence should not include the possibility of being raped, beaten or otherwise terrorized or injured. These things cannot be justified. Prison rape and torment is a common joke, but it's really no joke at all, it's a serious thing. The guy who gets caught with some weed and has no other criminal record or intent... no intent to distribute... no criminal background, but just wanted to get some smoke... shouldn't be put in mortal danger in order to pay for that crime.

The loss of freedom and having a criminal record follow you through life should be the deterrent. The fact that corrections will do nothing to stop this inhumane abuse, and indeed sometimes foster it, should not be. If I'm busted for something, I'll do the time. But I shouldn't have to go in fear for my life or well-being due to an incompetently run prison system.

Originally posted by TexasConspiracyNut
You bet! They even get first chance at organ transplants because the state is obligated to keep them in good health until their sentence is carried out

Exactly, I have the honor of working at the facility in the Bay Area that transplanted a convicted murderer. Im sooooo proud But they get the same chance as everybody else despite thier history. The sad fact is that they generaly do well because they are forced to take thier anti rejection meds.

Originally posted by delta74dragon
Here is a good reason to take away smokes in prison. They don't deserve them. How hard is it to live your life without doing something so wrong that you get sent to prison.

There is a Sherif in Arizona that has the cons living in tent cities, they get 2 cold meals a day according to the web site (the meal budget is like 50 cents a day per person , chain gangs etc. The TV offers like 2 channels. The Weather Channel and one other

The inmates in the Maricopa County jail system are required by law to work six days a week. They eat only twice a day, get no coffee, cigarettes, salt, pepper, ketchup or organized recreation. They must pay $10 to see a nurse, and if they want to write to their families, they have to use special postcards with the sheriff�s picture on them. If their loved ones visit, inmates see them through thick plate glass or over a video link.

www.mcso.org

I could see where this person would fear for his life being locked up with violent criminals.

Foot Licker

Necroing for the UK version

www.bbc.co.uk...

www.bbc.co.uk... short vid

Im not really sure how i feel about it after reading this thread (mods if it deserves a new thread let me know, 9 years may be too old for a thread regardless)

zerotime

Prison guards don't want to beathe second hand smoke either. Maybe the ban will help them kick the habbit.

Oh I'm sure the prison guards are just all kinds of happy about this. They won't have second hand smoke. How sweet for them. They'll just get a shank between the ribs and a punctured lung from some ass hat in a full blown nic fit and looking to hurt anyone to feel a little better.

In a place where desperation, loss of hope and just outright predatory behavior is the daily norm? What could be more helpful than to add a whole new level of desperation to it? Sounds about right for Government thinking these days.

'We'll warehouse you for decades and force you to die slow.....but we won't let you have a smoke! That could be bad for ya!"

Some days, it's so absolutely absurd...the logic blows me away.

elevatedone
Texasconspiracynut...


I understand what you are saying, maybe in Texas the prisons are a little "tougher", but people that I have known and stories I have heard and even reports on TV... Prisoners are well kept in mosts instances.

Air Conditioning, TV and in some cases Cable TV, Weights, Basketball, even on case of bowling... lets' see what else..

Oh yeah.... what about computers and the internet... !!!

I think a lot of you confuse stories you hear from county jails and federal prisons. Here, where some of the nicest prisons are, my cousin who just spent 9 years in one had two great perks - playing Advanced D&D and getting beat up/raped on the regular. He never mentions anything awesome he saw on cable tv or how comfortable the temperature was. I know he was not on a prison facebook site since he had no internet and the tv was shared by 40+ people and controlled by 1. Where are all these awesome prisons where life is a dream to be in? I'd rather be in the prisons a lot of you describe than my real life.

Wrabbit2000

zerotime

Prison guards don't want to beathe second hand smoke either. Maybe the ban will help them kick the habbit.

Oh I'm sure the prison guards are just all kinds of happy about this. They won't have second hand smoke. How sweet for them. They'll just get a shank between the ribs and a punctured lung from some ass hat in a full blown nic fit and looking to hurt anyone to feel a little better.

In a place where desperation, loss of hope and just outright predatory behavior is the daily norm? What could be more helpful than to add a whole new level of desperation to it? Sounds about right for Government thinking these days.

'We'll warehouse you for decades and force you to die slow.....but we won't let you have a smoke! That could be bad for ya!"

Some days, it's so absolutely absurd...the logic blows me away.

Who do you think pays for all the emphysema and cancer treatment?

TexasConspiracyNut

Originally posted by AgentSmith
Is there a no smoking ban on prisoners on Death Row? to look after their health?
Sorry couldn't help myself, it seems so stupid...........

You bet! They even get first chance at organ transplants because the state is obligated to keep them in good health until their sentence is carried out

That is not even remotely true in my state. Where are you and can you show me something on this?