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History
- Referred to correction
Full text
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Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:A10711
Title of bill
An act to amend the correction law, in relation to banning tobacco products from correctional facilities
Purpose or general idea of bill
To amend the corrections law to prevent the prison population from the exposure of second hand smoke while reducing the medical costs to inmates and corrections officers due to ailments caused by smoking and or second hand smoke.
Summary of specific provisions
The bill bans the sale of tobacco in any commissary or canteen.
The bill would then authorize the Corrections Commissioner to ban inmates front the possession of tobacco in New York State prisons by amending rule 113.9 of section 270.2 of the New York Codes. The commis- sioner would provide the rules and regulations to prohibit possession.
JUSTIFICATION:; According to a 2006 Surgeon General report more inmates die each year from second hand smoke then from legal execution in the United States. A study in a Vermont prison found that prison air may contain nicotine concentrations up to twelve times higher than concen- trations found in smoker's homes. The staggering concentrations of second hand smoke places inmates in an environment that is more likely to get them sick. This increases health care costs
Attempts to control the devastating effect of second hand smoke in pris- ons have not yielded strong enough results. Some methods such as sepa- rating smokers and non smokers and replacing indoor air with outdoor air are not effective. While New York already has an indoor ban on smoking in prisons. banning possession has been a proven more effective.
In the 1993 Supreme Court case Melling v McKinney the court ruled that the Eighth Amendment "protects inmates against the deliberate indiffer- ence of prison officials to a serious risk of harm posed by second hand smoke." In order to comply with this ruling banning tobacco possession by inmates will eliminate expose to second hand smoke and will reduce the health care costs of inmates.
Twenty Five other states have passed a full ban on tobacco usage in prisons. The American Correctional Association and the American Jailers Association are also in favor of nonsmoking policies.
PRIOR. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New Sill.
Fiscal implications
New York State would benefit from a decrease in health care costs of its inmates.
Effective date
The bill shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.