State to ban prison smoking

COLUMBIA — Smoking will be banned in all South Carolina prisons beginning Jan. 1, Corrections Department Director Jon Ozmint said.

The tobacco ban was prompted by several factors, including lawsuits related to secondhand smoke and the health of the inmates, Ozmint said.

In 2005, the prison system lost a lawsuit to an asthmatic man who claimed his rights were violated when he was exposed to secondhand cigarette smoke.

The smoking ban will start Aug. 1 at the agency headquarters and five prisons — Broad River in Columbia, Tyger River in Enoree, Evans in Bennettsville, Lieber in Ridgeville and Kirkland Reception and Evaluation Center in Columbia.

Ozmint is beginning the ban early at those locations because he wants to test smoking cessation programs that include a 30-day stop-smoking program for employees. Prisoners will be allowed to buy lozenges to curb their craving for nicotine, Ozmint said.

Prison officials have steadily increased the cost of a pack of cigarettes over the last few years. Currently a pack of name-brand smokes goes for $5.49, while generic cigarettes are $5.23 a pack, prisons spokesman Josh Gelinas said.

The state will lose the revenue from cigarette sales when the ban goes into effect, but Ozmint said the health of employees and inmates is what matters.

"You feel dirty for putting off a decision you know is right just because you're making $600,000 to $800,000" a year, Ozmint said.

Prison officials said they don't think there will be any violence or other problems after cigarettes become contraband, saying there were few problems in 2003 when the prisons banned pornography, Gelinas said.

The state prison system has 23,000 inmates.

Federal prisons already are smoke-free as well as some county jails across the state.