NCJ Number
126846
Journal
Detention Reporter Issue: 84 Dated: (October 1990) Pages: 3-10
Editor(s)
R Miller
Date Published
1990
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Recently, Federal courts have been asked by inmates to interpret constitutional rights with regard to smoking.
Abstract
Inmates have asked the courts to determine if they have a right to smoke in certain situations. In the cases, Doughty v. Board of County Commissioners for County of Weld, 731 F.Supp. 423 (D. Colo. 1989), and Grass v. Sargent, 903 F. 2d 1206 (8th Cir. 1990), the courts responded "no." Nonsmoking inmates have asked the courts to rule that they have a right to avoid the smoke of other inmates. While several recent rulings have declined to reach this conclusion, some earlier cases disagree. All of the courts have acknowledged that this is an emerging issue that can be expected to evolve. The cases, Hummer v. Dalton, 657 F. 2d 621 (1981), and Beeson v. Johnson, 668 F.Supp. 498 (E.D.N.C. 1987), suggest that inmates to have rights to be free from "environmental tobacco smoke." See NCJ-127290 for part 2