Using tobacco will quickly be legal yet again at Mississippi prisons

MERIDIAN, Overlook. (WTOK) – The Mississippi Section of Corrections is turning what has been contraband into a way to enable communities and inmates. The company announced that prison inmates will be able to legally smoke as of Feb. 1, 2021.

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The Mississippi Office of Corrections announced that prison inmates will be ready to lawfully smoke as of Feb. 1, 2021.

Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain stated he’s turning the destructive of cigarette smoking into some thing constructive for the state’s 21 prisons and other amenities.

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“Inmates who smoke are smoking in any case,” mentioned Cain. “But they are having to smuggle in tobacco to do it, which is illegal, and it is even extra unlawful mainly because point out regulation prohibits smoking in state properties.  That compromises our Corrections officers and staff and places them at chance to both break the law by making it possible for the smoking cigarettes or to put by themselves in danger by imposing the rule.  By marketing the exact cigarettes that are permitted to no cost individuals, we are breaking the contraband tobacco trade, designating smoking places exterior, clearing the air inside for the bulk of inmates who never smoke, lessening inmate contraband violations, and recouping for taxpayers some of the bucks it normally takes to run prisons.”

Gains from prison tobacco revenue will pay for MDOC’s Re-entry Software by buying simulators and pc packages to train parole-suitable guys and females inmates the skills for truck driving, welding, backhoe, caterpillar and dragline operations, and in oil and pipeline perform.  The tobacco sales will also fund a lot more remedial classes so inmates can accomplish a substantial-college diploma, passing the HiSET (Superior School Equivalency Test) and start off college study course get the job done.

Name model cigarettes will be sold at existing rates in the prisons’ canteens where inmates buy snacks and toiletries.  Cigars and smokeless tobacco products will also be sold.

“Inmates who smoke now not only are breaking guidelines and getting rid of a possibility at early release,” added MDOC Deputy Commissioner Jay Mallett, “but also they are having to pay as significantly as $500 a pound to do it.  The smokers will help save cash and the condition will make revenue.”

Jail superintendents and wardens will designate using tobacco locations outdoor in compliance with point out and federal regulation.

In accordance to the American Nonsmokers’ Legal rights Foundation and other web-sites, 27 other state correctional departments, such as New York, California and Illinois, enable smoking cigarettes outdoor on prison grounds with 15 also letting the use of other tobacco products.

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