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In the last year, Darlington County Detention Center in South Carolina made $15,000 from the sale of electronic cigarettes to inmates. This was a good bit more than the $5,000 expected when the jail began selling the devices and helps offset various costs that would normally be covered by local taxpayers. Profits moving forward are expected to double annually.

You can read the full story right here.

The e-cigs come from a company called Crossbar which was started by a corrections officer. Their disposables are designed for use in the clink — primarily by building them out of soft materials which the inmates can’t turn into weapons. A single device costs the jail $5.25 and sells to inmates for $10.25.

A lot of jails are taking to this idea. While many states have banned use of cigarettes in correctional facilities, those facilities find themselves to be more dangerous environments when inmates can’t get their nicotine fix. Often, the only thing a ban does is create a black market for cigarettes and a more hostile nicotine-deprived population.

On top of all that, there’s often the lingering issue of “smoker’s rights” — the idea that a smoking addict in a captive atmosphere has a right to smoke. Though jails have mostly gotten around this, mental health and elderly care facilities often are forced to provide cigarettes even to their sickest of patients.

E-cigs seem to be a great answer to all this. If they keep making far more money than expected for the jails on top of making the inmates calmer, all the better.