Pubdate: Mon, 31 Jul 2000
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2000 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact:  1101 Baxter Rd.,Ottawa, Ontario, K2C 3M4
Fax: 613-596-8522
Website: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
Author: Ryan Baker

JAILHOUSE CIGARETTES SOAR TO $30 A PACK AS BAN LOOMS

Booming Black Market Another Sign That Ban Will Cause Trouble, Corrections 
Critics Say

The black market for cigarettes in Toronto-area jails is heating up as the 
province tightens its ban on smoking in its facilities.

A single package of cigarettes is costing inmates as much as $30 in the 
eight jails affected by the ban, which will have smoking phased out 
entirely by September.

One inmate at the Mimico Correctional Centre, located west of Toronto, told 
the Citizen he was lucky to get three packs of cigarettes for $60 -- a 
bargain that's getting harder to find by the day.

"Prices are always going up," said Barbara Hill, director of policy 
development at the John Howard Society of Ontario, a social services group 
for inmates. "I wouldn't have a clue what the prices could rise to. It gets 
worse and worse."

The province currently allows inmates to buy two packages of cigarettes a 
week, at the regular price. But starting tomorrow, it will be down to one 
package. And in September, the facilities will be smoke-free.

"It's one of the things that's creating hostile, tense environments in 
prisons," Ms. Hill said. "And what happens in hostile, tense environments 
could be dangerous."

She said it's one more thing that adds to inmate stress, which is already 
stretched beyond its limits by overcrowding.

The province currently allows inmates to buy two packages of cigarettes a 
week, at the regular price. But starting tomorrow, it will be down to one 
package. And in September, the facilities will be smoke-free.

"It's one of the things that's creating hostile, tense environments in 
prisons," Ms. Hill said. "And what happens in hostile, tense environments 
could be dangerous."

Ms. Hill said the higher prices get for black market cigarettes, the more 
dangerous the jails will become. Higher prices can mean higher debts, she 
said, and if inmates can't pay their debts it often leads to violence.

Correction officials have already expressed concern the ban will lead to 
violence and other disturbances in the jails, which currently house about 
3,100 inmates.

Ms. Hill said the government is trying to make life as miserable as 
possible for inmates in order to deter people from offending. But 
deterrence doesn't work, according to research, she said.

"The purpose of the move toward smoke-free jails is to improve the quality 
of the air for the health benefits of the inmates and staff," said Ross 
Virgo, a spokesman for the Ministry of Correctional Services.

Mr. Virgo did not deny the province has an agenda to make life harder for 
inmates, but emphasized the ban is a response to a "health issue."

Ms. Hill said she agrees with the need to protect staff and inmates from 
second-hand smoke, but feels there are better ways to do so without an 
all-out ban, suggesting designated smoking areas.

Earlier this year, 60 inmates at the Metro West Detention Centre in 
Mississauga went on a hunger strike to protest the smoking ban. A riot 
broke out last year at the Whitby Jail, one of the four detention centres 
in Ontario that are already completely smoke-free. Although ministry 
officials denied it was caused by the ban, some inmates demanded cigarettes 
during negotiations with police and got their wish.

The province is planning to phase out smoking in all of its jails by the 
end of 2001.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager