No smokes for prisoners, either

SPRINGFIELD -- The state's new indoor smoking ban is creating problems for thousands of smokers forced to quit cold turkey and face withdrawal in an unrelenting place: prison.

On Jan. 1, Illinois joined 18 other states and made it illegal to light up in virtually every public place statewide. The ban applies to bars, restaurants, offices and even the state's 28 prisons.

But unlike other public places, where smokers can step outside -- at least 15 feet away from a building entrance, ventilation intake or an open window -- inmates are out of luck.

Prisoners, who were allowed to smoke in their cells up to last month, can't even light up in outdoor prison yards.

The nicotine withdrawal is making some inmates edgy, prison officials say.

"It's a delicate situation in there," said Anders Lindall, a spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents Illinois prison guards.

Experts say it's too early to tell if the ban has increased violence among Illinois' 44,000 inmates, but other states have reported spikes in crime since smoking bans. An inmate upset by the smoking ban in Tennessee sent a bomb threat to a courthouse last year.

"We haven't seen any (violence) issues. Will we see some? We might," said Derek Schnapp, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Corrections.

The union has discouraged guards from publicly discussing the ban because of sensitivity to the issue.

Guards at the maximum-security Menard Correctional Center in southern Illinois told Rep. Mike Bost, a Murphysboro Republican, that tension in the prison escalated after the ban.

"The first week or so, they were throwing lit (books of) matches, screaming and yelling" from their cells, he said.

Experts say the effects of quitting increase irritability, and some inmates who have other issues, like mental health problems, could even need psychological attention.

"Smoking among inmates is more common than it is outside. They don't have anything else to do," said Chris Mooney, a former prison guard who is a professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield. "Every minute of every day, (the inmates) are insulted. This is just one more thing they're being told they can't do."

Other experts say the smoking ban has the potential of creating issues for prison employees.

"You empower a new black market. You create yet another class of items that security officers have to be on the lookout for," Lindall said.