The Alabama Department of Corrections announced Wednesday it is phasing out tobacco at every state correctional facility, made possible with help from some tobacco-free alternatives.
It’s the right move, and one most of the country’s prison systems have already made in some form, ADOC reports.
“A tobacco-free policy inside Alabama’s correctional facilities will offer many health and safety benefits including the reduction of secondhand smoke exposure, the improvement of respiratory health, and a decrease in the risk of cardiovascular disease,” an ADOC release read.
“There are also operational benefits like better working conditions for staff, reduced fire hazards, a reduction in smoking-related maintenance issues and medical costs.”
Phase 1 covers Elmore, Frank Lee, Kilby and Staton. ADOC canteens will stop selling tobacco products Sept. 1, and after Oct. 1 all tobacco products and accessories will be treated as contraband.
To support quitting, ADOC psychological associates are being trained to lead tobacco cessation classes at every facility, and canteens will stock NicoDerm patches and Zyn nicotine pouches.
The Governor Kay Ivey Correctional Complex, scheduled for completion in October, will be tobacco-free from day one.
Smoking prevalence inside state prisons has been measured at 50% to 83% of inmates, several times the rate outside. A 2014 study found prison smoking bans were associated with a 9% reduction in smoking-related deaths, with long-standing bans linked to 19% fewer cancer deaths and 34% fewer pulmonary deaths.
The federal Bureau of Prisons removed tobacco from its commissaries in 2006 and later banned it outright, and 48 states had adopted some form of prison smoking ban by 2011.
The FDA authorized Zyn, made by Philip Morris International’s Swedish Match, for sale in January 2025, and in June it became the first nicotine pouch cleared to be marketed as lower-risk than cigarettes, according to Prison Legal News.
ADOC, under Commissioner Greg Lovelace since May, has not announced a timeline for the remaining phases.
