THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 7, 1994 TAG: 9410070606
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
Prompted by recent fires in the City Jail set by inmates with matches and lighters, Sheriff Robert J. McCabe on Thursday moved up the jail's smoking ban by one month, to Nov. 1.
McCabe announced the new date via closed-circuit TV inside the jail.
He announced the original smoking ban in June, effective Dec. 1. The main goal, he said then, was promoting health, and the secondary goal was fire safety.
But on Thursday, McCabe said recent fires prompted him to move up the date. Jail spokesman George Schaefer said he did not know how many fires the jail has had recently, but there were 10 on Sept. 19 alone, when about 60 prisoners took control of the seventh floor for six hours.
McCabe plans to wean inmates off cigarettes by gradually reducing the amount they can buy at the jail canteen.
On Sept. 30, the canteen began selling only low-tar, low-nicotine cigarettes and limited each inmate to one carton, or 10 packs. Next Friday, the limit will drop to four packs. A week later, on Oct. 21, the canteen will stop selling cigarettes completely.
About 60 to 70 percent of the 1,300 Norfolk inmates smoke cigarettes, McCabe has estimated. The canteen normally sells about 5,000 packs a month.
On Nov. 1, deputies will confiscate all cigarettes, chewing tobacco, matches and lighters. Staffers also will be forbidden from smoking or bringing these items into the jail.
Norfolk is the last jail in Hampton Roads to ban smoking. The Virginia Beach jail went smoke-free in 1990 by gradually reducing the number of cigarettes inmates were allowed. The transition caused no problems there, authorities said. by CNB