To Smoke or Not to Smoke?

Differences Ignite Over Hot Topic at Illinois Prisons

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A pregnant woman walks into work at the county jail and is confronted by a cloud of second-hand cigarette smoke. It billows out of housing units, day rooms and staffing areas, and hangs in the air long after the smoker himself is gone. An officer lights up and leans against the wall. Directly above him is a No Smoking sign. An inmate then walks by the same sign, smoking a cigarette. There is no clear separation or demarcation of smoking and non-smoking areas, and there are no repercussions for violators.

These are the sights that regularly haunt Jeff Gill, a correctional officer at Big Muddy River Correctional Center near Ina, Ill. After 17 years in the prison industry, Gill is on a mission to put the butts out, which he says will eliminate health risks for employees and reduce the amount of money spent on inmate health care.

Several states have banned smoking in prisons in recent years, and it’s not always easy, as Gill is finding. He did not expect to meet such heavy opposition in a battle that he says would save taxpayers money and improve the health and working conditions of staff.

Critics fear that a ban on smoking might increase inmate violence and create a black market for the trade of cigarettes among prisoners. Others say that a ban on smoking among inmates is acceptable, but staff members that smoke shouldn’t have to suffer as well.

Union officials believe that smoking policies should be based on a joint decision by local prison staff and prison managers. They say that workers have the right to negotiate over the issue at the local level and the decision should not be made for them by the state.

Much of the resistance comes from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, which doesn’t want to upset the “smoking staff,” Gill says. There are correctional officers who do not “want to give up smoking on the job and that’s the bottom line,” he says.

Gill has been told that if he wants to fight for something, he should focus his efforts on staffing levels in the department, which would improve the health and safety of staff more than a ban on smoking. They say that if non-smoking staff members are uncomfortable being around smokers, then just “don’t be around them,” according to Gill.

That is impossible, according to supporters of the ban. They claim that second hand smoke lingers in the air for hours due to poor ventilation in the facilities. Staff members may work a shift with no smokers in sight, but the residual effects of previous shifts are certainly present. Restricted smoking areas are not a solution because smoke can drift into other areas, and most restrictions are not enforced.

In addition, advocates argue that the state is wasting money on increased health care costs for inmates and staff members who smoke. Those are dollars that can be spent on increasing staff and funding pensions, which supporters say are both currently inadequate.

Illinois State Senator John Cullerton has been supportive of the ban and plans to introduce legislation aimed at banning tobacco use behind prison walls. He believes that recent efforts to ban smoking in restaurants and bars in Illinois may alter the outcome for prison policies in the future.

Gill has launched a grassroots effort to ban smoking in prisons throughout the state. He has created a Web site, www.smokefreeillinoisprisons.org, to spread the word on his fight to protect his fellow staffers from secondhand smoke. Since he first ignited the fight to ban lighting up, Gill has received rude phone calls at his home and nasty e-mails from critics.

“This is ridiculous, and something needs to be done,” Gill says.

But, he will just have to hold his breath until a final decision is made.