OMIGOD I HAVE TO RANT

The House has agreed to yet another extension on this session in North Carolina - yet they all agree on one thing:  There will be a ban on inside smoking in prisons.

This doesn't affect me - our institution bans indoor smoking, anyway - but what burns ME is, they say "we are not providing a healthy climate for our inmates." 

Last year, the cost of inmate health care was 138 million.  Yep, there were inmates with lung cancer and copd - but you can bet your BOTTOM dollar that the number of AIDS cases far exceeded the lung ca cases. Have you priced the cost of AIDS meds lately?   I bet you the asbestos in the older prisons (like OURS and the hospital) is still there, and I bet you every time it's disturbed "our inmates" and staff breathe it in.  Removal is too expensive, you know.  And I bet you, too, that the number of foreign inmates who are coming into the system with active TB that goes undetected until an entire camp is contaminated with it - OH, well - let's look at that, why don't we.  You want to know what else raises the cost of inmate health care?  Well, I've got to let it out so here goes - inmates who like to take a ride on weekends.  They swallow batteries, razor blades, jam forks and pencils up their penises, or they cut themselves.  Or they get hurt on the basketball court - that's where most of our injuries come from  - that's yet another ER trip - and then they have to see an orthopedist who will recommend physical therapy.   And the fights!  Let's not forget the fights where noses and ribs are broken and there has to be a trip to the emergency room.  Oh, and lifting weights!  That results in back injuries that require the services of a neurosurgeon AND surgery - and let's don't forget the cases of hepatitis from drug use. And PLEASE let's not forget the inmates who say - well, i'm in prison - might as well get all my health troubles taken care of while i'm here!  I kid you not - I've heard them say it.  And then there's ophthalmology (one inmate was released with a pending appointment.  He didn't follow up after.  He came back into the system more than two years later and suddenly it was an emergency.  Danged straight, by then he was going blind.  That says a lot, too for availability of healthcare to people on the outside.  Trust me - if you're an inmate, you get top notch care), and the visits to the optometrist and the refused glasses because the state issued frames are not cool.  And let's not forget the malingerers and the drug seekers.  And multiply the number of inmates by the thousand bed facilities, and take into account the people who are serving consecutive life terms and are aging - NC has actually opened a nursing home for inmates...

No, smoking is not good.  Not at all - a definite health threat for anybody.  Another problem that will crop up if smoking is banned completely in prison is black market cigarettes.  My janitor, Ervin, informed me that at the mental institution, cigarettes go for 25 $ a pack on the black market.  And who do you think is bringing them in? The same people who are smuggling in the alcohol and marijuana and whatever else.

And God knows, I don't want to be in the same prison facility with Ervin if he goes into nicotine withdrawal - or ANY of them, for that matter.  There definitely will be a security risk. 

Ok, i'm all ranted out.  and now i'm tired and will get back to my vacation.  But I have a hard time with this, coming from a state that has no laws governing  safety regulations and age limits for operating ATV's, even after seeing the number of children AND adults who are killed while driving those things.  To be fair, they've decided on age eight.  I can see where an eight year old would be so much more mature than a six year old.  but that's another blog.

and now i will shut up.