- Ecclesiastical Denzel Washington, 53, sued the state of Missouri after second hand smoke from his inmate worsened his asthma
- Last week, a judge ruled all Missouri prisons must be smoke-free by April 2018
- Missouri already bans smoking inside prison buildings, but it allowed it in designated areas outside
- It also allows inmates to buy tobacco products and lighters at the prison canteen
Ecclesiastical Denzel Washington said his cellmate at Crossroads Correctional Center in Cameron exacerbated his asthma symptoms by smoking heavily
A man who is serving life in prison for double murder won court judgment ordering the state of Missouri’s prisons to be smoke-free.
Ecclesiastical Denzel Washington, 53, sued the state claiming his heavy-smoker cellmate at Crossroads Correctional Center in Cameron had exacerbated his asthma symptoms.
He was placed with his cellmate despite doctor’s orders that he be held somewhere smoke free.
Last week, a federal judge ruled in Washington’s favor and demanded all Missouri prisons be smoke-free by April 2018.
Missouri already bans smoking inside prison buildings, but it allowed it in designated areas outside.
The evidence at trial showed some inmates ignore these rules and are commonly written up for smoking in their cells.
Missouri currently allows inmates buy tobacco and lighters to keep in their cells.
Missouri prisons now have to ban smoking in its 21 prisons. The state has not announced how it will implement this by April (Crossroads Correctional Center in Cameron, pictured)
Attorney Phillip Zeeck, who helped represent Washington, said the ruling may save Missouri taxpayers money because of the cost of treating smoking-related illnesses for the state’s more than 30,000 inmates.
‘This is a win ultimately for the people who work and live in Missouri’s correctional facilities,’ Zeeck told the Kansas City Star.
State officials haven’t announced details of their plan to eliminate smoking at 21 correctional facilities.
Washington, who used to be known as Willie Simmons, was sentenced to death in 1989 for the murders of two St. Louis women. His sentence was later reduced to life in prison.