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More Reasons To Avoid Jail: Cigarettes Cost $200
By
Lauren Evans
Published May 6, 2013
Modified May 6, 2013
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By
Lauren Evans
Published May 6, 2013
Modified May 6, 2013
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Smokers may shake their fists at Bloomberg's proposal that cigarettes sell for no less than $10.50 a pack, but $10.50 probably sounds like a pretty sweet bargain to the city's inmates, who reportedly pay up to $200 for a single pack of delicious nicotine sticks that probably aren't even stuffed with hand-chiseled diamond flakes.
The city banned smoking behind bars in 2003, a measure that rocked the economic landscape of jailhouse commissaries, which made a killing selling cigarettes to inmates. But the funds that once flowed into the city's coffers now fuel a robust black market, the Daily News reports, with 85 arrests made since January 2012.
"The average price for a single smoke at Rikers Island is $30," sources told the tabloid, versus on the outside, where a loosie can be had for under a dollar. In total, contraband busts in city jails—including cigarettes, drugs and blades—have risen by 40 percent in the last 3 years.
It seems unlikely that many inmates can come up with $200 for a pack of cigs, but then again, if this impressive display of shivs has taught us anything, it's that necessity breeds resourcefulness.
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Lauren Evans
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