OKLAHOMA CITY — Inmates at minimum security prisons in Oklahoma will soon be allowed to resume smoking on prison grounds.
Cigarettes will be sold and inmates will be allowed to light up in designated outdoor areas at minimum-security prisons starting Aug. 2, according to Corrections Department spokesman Jerry Massie.
“It’s something we’ve been talking about for several months, but we’re just now writing the policies,” Massie said.
Tobacco use was banned in all state prisons in 2004 in part because of rising health care costs.
The costs are less in minimum-security prisons because those inmates generally spend less time in custody and also tend to have more freedom than inmates in higher-security prisons because of good behavior and less severe sentences, Massie said.
He said there are no plans to allow smoking at medium- or maximum-security prisons.
Smoking always has been difficult to control, Massie said, adding that allowing smoking means one less thing to monitor with budget cuts that have resulted in fewer prison guards.
Under old rules, inmates found with tobacco could be cited for misconduct.
Punishments ranged from segregation to a loss of good behavior credits that can shorten an inmate’s sentence.
Massie said each prison commissary will decide which tobacco brands to sell. He dismissed the idea that cigarette sales would significantly help increase profits.
Last fiscal year, canteen sales revenue totaled nearly $14 million, with a net profit of $2.4 million for the prisons.
Canteens in prisons sell items such as notebooks, candy and snacks and, soon in some prisons, tobacco products.
