Blanket prohibition of tobacco now officially the law of the federal prisons land

As reported in this US News article, the "Federal Bureau of Prisons is officially banning smoking and possession of tobacco in any form by prison inmates."  Here is more:

The prohibition takes effect 30 days after publication of a final regulatory rule Monday in the Federal Register.  Prison guards still will be allowed to possess tobacco, but inmates will be permitted to smoke only for religious purposes.

“I’m a little surprised to be getting calls about this,” says Bureau of Prisons spokesman Ed Ross. Tobacco use by inmates, he says, is already banned in practice due to a 2006 policy taking tobacco products off the shelves of prison commissaries.  Cigarettes became contraband when commissaries stopped selling them, despite regulations technically allowing for outdoor smoking.

“If an inmate is found to be in possession of tobacco they are subject to discipline,” possibly including loss of phone or visitation privileges, Ross says. “I think it’s just formalizing the policy that’s in place.”...

Prisoners are historically more likely to smoke than the general public. Before the 2006 policy change, an estimated 60 to 80 percent of prison and jail inmates were smokers — far higher than the national average — alarming public health advocates who noted poor ventilation at facilities exposed nonsmokers to significant amounts of secondhand smoke.

But there's a flip side to banning tobacco.  The New York Daily News reported in 2013 tobacco prohibitions led to a surge in black market prices, with individual cigarettes selling for an average of $30 on New York City’s Rikers Island.  The Daily Beast reported the restrictions created a “cash cow” for prison gangs like the Aryan Brotherhood.

The new rule applies only to the 212,438 inmates housed in federal facilities. Many state and local jails, however, have independently banned tobacco use.