An I-told-you-so moment from yesterday’s Associated Press article on the high price of tobacco products inside California’s prisons since the July 2005 ban:
California’s ban on tobacco in prisons has produced a burgeoning black market behind bars, where a pack of smokes can fetch up to $125….At Folsom State Prison, a cook quit last year after he was caught walking onto prison grounds with several plastic bags filled with rolling tobacco in his jacket. He told authorities he was earning more smuggling tobacco ââ?¬â?? upwards of $1,000 a week ââ?¬â?? than he did in his day job.
And the shockingly sensible conclusion:
Chuck Alexander, executive vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, said lawmakers should either roll back the prohibition or add stronger penalties….”It didn’t do anything but make (tobacco) a lucrative business,” he said.