WY: Smoke-free Prisons by July 1st

Nobody will be smoking in Wyoming prisons on July 1. The Department of Corrections adopted new rules for the men’s prisons (the women’s prison has been smoke-free for at least 5 years) that ban smoking by both prisoners and corrections officers in all prisons, offices, and transportation vehicles. “We’ve got a lot of grouchy, grumpy people at work, I’ll tell you, and it’s not just the inmates, either,” said one corrections officer at Wyoming State Penitentiary.

65-75% of corrections officers and 85-90% of incarcerated people in Wyoming use some kind of tobacco product. To help everyone quit, the DOC is offering nicotine patches, lozenges, and smoking cessation classes to staff and prisoners. The program is funded by the state’s tobacco settlement, and seven hundred incarcerated people have participated so far. Patches and classes will continue through September for those waiting till the last minute to quit, but after September patches and lozenges will become contraband.

This news brief is based on a story from the Casper Star Tribune, Prisons Brace for Tobacco Ban. If the link is broken, check their archive.