RESTRICTING TV, SMOKING IN JAIL: HARSH OR HEALTHY?

Rules: Santa Clara County official says curbs--on cigarettes, sugar, coffee,
television news and cable channels--are designed largely to promote better
lifestyles. But inmate advocate accuses him of mean-spiritedness.

SAN JOSE--Inmates at the Santa Clara County Jail have already lost their
freedom. Now they are losing their cigarettes, coffee and sugar too.

The new year signaled the start of the new restrictions, which will also
include new limits on the kinds of cable TV channels inmates in the county's
jails will be allowed to watch--and an outright ban on TV news.

The edicts have drawn reactions that vary from outrage to a shrug of the
shoulders from advocates for jail inmates, who consist of convicted
criminals serving time for offenses that do not merit prison sentences, and
arrestees awaiting trials.

"It's a mean-spirited, demeaning attitude toward the prisoners," said Donald
Specter, director of the Prison Law Office in San Francisco, a group that
specializes in prisoner rights.

"It just shows a lack of respect of prisoners as people who are able to
process information the same way we all do. Banning TV news, that's just
ridiculous." But even advocates for inmate rights acknowledge that the new
bans are not, by themselves, cause for great concern when compared to more
austere measures taken in other jails, and other issues such as proper
access to medical care.

"Put it this way," said attorney Michael Bien of Rosen, Bien & Asaro. "If
someone came to me [complaining] about the coffee, I probably wouldn't take
the case." The new measures are the work of Tim Ryan, the county's jails
chief, who modeled them on restrictions in Alameda County, whose jails he
used to run.

The smoking ban, he said, brings the county jails in line with
health-related prohibitions in offices, stores and just about anywhere
people gather indoors throughout the state. Sugar was forbidden in the jails
because inmates were using it to make a type of moonshine called "pruno."
But why coffee? Santa Clara is the only county in the state to have taken
the morning shot of caffeine off the breakfast menu. It's not the money.
Cutting coffee saves a mere $50,000 out of the county jail system's budget
of $104 million.

Ryan said the new prohibitions are part of his attempt to foster some
lifestyle changes. "We can change their smoking habits, drinking habits and
their physical health," he said. "We tend to get people [in jail] that have
abused their bodies the most. It's good for us to help them change that." In
fact, inmates craving caffeine can still buy their coffee from the jail
commissary. Five packets of instant coffee sell for $1.40, and the
economy-sized package of 20 is $3.50. Inmates with a sweet tooth will have
to settle for artificial sweeteners: 50 packets for 55 cents.

Ryan's reform philosophy also requires that when a new cable system is
installed a few months from now, shows considered violent or inappropriate
will be censored. There will be no Playboy Channel, of course, but inmates
can count on Disney and the History Channel to be piped in.

Television news is also out, so inmates will have to get their information
from newspapers.

'The Only Chance We've Got' Ryan concedes that his new policies are not
likely to change inmates' lifestyles during the relatively short time they
serve in jail. But he says he still wants to try.

"To a certain extent, it's idealistic, but it's the only chance we've got,"
he said.

Ryan's efforts fall short of the more severe measures taken by other
counties nationwide. Jails in Washington state have brought back chain
gangs, taken away television altogether, and used military rations--well
known by troops as MREs (Meals Ready to Eat)--to feed inmates. Sentenced
inmates in Arizona's Maricopa County sleep in military-style tents, eat
bologna sandwiches instead of hot meals, and wear pink underwear--apparently
to deter theft.

"They're not here to be in a country club," said Deputy Dave Moyer,
spokesman for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department. "The inmates, they
understand that when they come here, they're here to do time." Ryan said he
has no plans to imitate those policies, and does not want to feed inmate
anger at the justice system. "None of us want to damage egos and psyches,"
he said. "We just want [inmates] to see another side of the world they may
have not seen before."