Prison Update
Ohio puts expanded prison smoking ban on hold
January 4, 2009
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Lawmakers have temporarily snuffed out the state’s plan to implement a widespread smoking ban in prisons by March.
A legislative rule-making committee was scheduled to approve the plan last week but postponed a vote until later this month.
Committee chairman Tom Niehaus, a state senator from New Richmond in southwest Ohio, says lawmakers question whether the state had the authority to put the ban in place.
Niehaus says state law bans smoking in some prisons but it’s not clear how the law deals with other correctional facilities.
The prison system argues that banning smoking will reduce health care costs for inmates. The state plans to move ahead with the planned ban in March.
The u nion representing prison guards want assurances its employees will be offered the same types of anti-smoking programs available to inmates.
