Darlington County Detention Center finds new revenue stream - e-cigs for inmates

Robert Thomas has been a smoker for many years.

So when he got arrested and placed in the Darlington County Detention Center a few months ago, he worried about withdrawals from nicotine.

But he soon found out he wouldn’t have to worry long, because the Darlington County Detention Center offers inmates the opportunity to purchase and use electronic cigarettes during the stay in jail.

“It’s not quite like a real cigarette, but it relieves you and calms you down,” Thomas said.

Calm inmates is a welcomed benefit from the sale of the e-cigs, but Darlington County Sheriff’s Major Mitch Stanley said revenue was the driving force behind the decision to add electronic cigarettes to the commissary about a year ago.

“Sheriff (Wayne) Byrd and I first started discussing it, because he wanted me to find a way to make some revenue to offset some of the costs to taxpayers,” Stanley said. “We started looking into ways to do that, and cigarettes came up. There are some county jails that have started selling real cigarettes and allowing smoking, but we definitely didn’t want to do that. So I started doing some research on the electronic cigarettes and found the CrossBar electronic cigarette, which was made by a correctional officer to be used in jails.”

Crossbar Electronic Cigarettes consist of unique soft plastic tubing, which envelops the battery and moistened nicotine patch, soft plastic end caps and a battery. All internal components, excluding the battery and leads, are made of soft plastic material so that inmates cannot use them as weapons, Stanley said.

“I tested it myself,” Stanley said. “I took one apart to see if there was any way I could make a weapon out of it or start a fire with it. There wasn’t. And we had a few inmates test it, and they weren’t able to figure anything out with it either. I mean, these guys are very ingenious in here, and they have a lot of time on their hands to be thinking about ways to cause problems, so we wanted to make sure there was no way these e-cigarettes could be used to hurt someone.”

The cigarettes sell for $10.25 apiece. The sheriff’s office purchases them for $5.25 and makes $5 off of every one sold. Stanley said he projected the cigarettes would bring in about $5,000 a year in extra revenue, but he greatly underestimated their value. This past year, they brought in $15,000 in revenue.

“And I think we’ll probably do double that next year,” Stanley said. “They buy ’em as fast as we get ‘em in. And all the revenue goes to buy supplies, stuff like blankets, toiletries, food, which offsets the cost to taxpayers.”

The electronic cigarette emits a scentless vapor rather than smoke so inmates are allowed to puff on them throughout the day in their cells and in common areas. Inmate David Colby Redick said one cigarette typically lasts about two days.

“It really depends on how you smoke it, but it doesn’t last long,” Redick said. “It does the trick, though.”

Inmate Curtis McLeod agreed and said the electronic cigarettes have made for a kinder, gentler inmate population.

“You got a lot of people living together in here,” McLeod said. “People get stressed out and irritated quick. This relieves some of that tension.”

The Darlington County Detention Center was the first county detention center in the state to implement the sale and use of e-cigarettes, but Stanley said several other jail administrators are exploring the possibility.

Florence County Detention Center officials have looked into the idea, Florence County Sheriff’s Major Mike Nunn said, but have decided against it for now.

“Without reliable studies regarding the adverse health consequences to both the user and bystanders, we chose not to go that route,” Nunn said. “There is still a security risk with the battery, although admittedly less than matches and a lighted cigarette. Perhaps when more time elapses and the studies on the health consequences are more settled, we may reconsider.”

But Stanley said he really hasn’t seen a downside to Darlington County’s e-cig decision.

“We’re saving taxpayers money and the inmates are easier to deal with,” Stanley said. “It’s really been a win-win.”

This story was originally published September 27, 2014 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Darlington County Detention Center finds new revenue stream - e-cigs for inmates."