Violence inside Florida prisons might go up a notch after the state announced Monday it plans to ban smoking for inmates.
Department of Corrections Secretary Edwin Buss declared that Florida's prisons will be tobacco-free in six months. He said that should cut health care costs and make prisons safer.
Without Nicotine to calm inmates' nerves, the tension building inside a prison yard might not be classified as safe for someone's health.
Without cigarettes, what will inmates use to trade with each other or pay as a fee for protection or other services? All of a sudden, commissary cookies are going to become a hot commodity.
Buss, who was one of Gov. Rick Scott's first appointees, previously headed Indiana's prison system.
Buss said inmates hospitalized for tobacco-related illnesses cost taxpayers nearly $9 million in the past year. He said snuffing out cigarettes also will make the prisons cleaner and removing lighters will make them safer.
Inmates will be offered smoking cessation assistance and designated smoking areas will be set up outside prison walls and fences for employees.
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Florida joins a host of other states that have banned tobacco in prisons.
