California inmates and their guards will no longer be able to light up starting Friday when a law takes effect that bans smoking in the nation's largest prison system.
The California Legislature last year approved legislation that bars tobacco products from state prisons. It also extends to prison employees and makes California the latest state to crack down on smoking in prisons.
The ban is aimed in part at saving money on state health care costs. The bill's Republican sponsor, Assemblyman Tim Leslie, estimates about half of the state's 160,000 prisoners smoke, costing California about $280 million each year.
Ban could backfire
But the ban has also raised concern inmates will simply turn to the black market and drive demand for tobacco products that could lead to an increase in smuggling and violence related to illegal cigarette sales.
Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections, said county jails already bar prisoners from smoking so many inmates were accustomed to going without cigarettes. She also said the state stopped selling tobacco in prisons a few months ago to prepare for the ban.
"There have been some problems," she said. "Anything that is off limits some inmates will try to capitalize on."
Every U.S. state has limits on smoking in prison, including 17 that impose total smoking bans, according to the American Correctional Association. Some allow guards to smoke or limit smoking to areas such as recreation yards.
Texas, which boasts the nation's second-biggest prison system, banned all tobacco in prisons in 1994 and then in 2003 passed a law making smuggling tobacco into prison a felony.
