Smoking Out the Contraband Inside State Prisons

Re “Prison Smoking Ban Likely to Bring a Pack of Changes,” June 30: As someone who just watched her father die of lung cancer, I’m relieved that the state will no longer permit smoking in prisons. The real question raised by your report, however, is why contraband (tobacco, drugs, etc.) flows so freely into our prisons. Why is nothing being done to stop this black market? Those involved should be punished: terminating visitor privileges for inmates, criminal charges for visitors, and dismissal for guards.

The prison guard union, which has spent millions to obtain generous salary and pensions benefits from its friends in Sacramento, has also been successful in opposing meaningful reform of the prisons. Given how many taxpayer dollars are sent the guards’ way, the least they could do is start abiding by the law.

Peg Manning

Los Angeles