Gosh, who’d have thought? Ban tobacco in a jail, where almost everyone smokes the stuff, and suddenly black market cigarettes are US$125 a pack. Jailhouse cooks make more from smuggling than cooking.
Chuck Alexander, executive vice president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, says: “It didn’t do anything but make (tobacco) a lucrative business.”
Thanks to the clever lads at Freakonomics for the pointer — and some fascinating follow-up comments from their readers.
And there’s further fascinating background in an article by economist Gary Becker and his commenters.