A long-standing ban on tobacco in Texas prisons meant to curb smoking-related disease is fueling a black market economy that breeds jailhouse violence and corrupts correctional officers, according to a new study examining inappropriate relationships between guards and inmates.

The study in the December edition of Criminal Justice Studies recommends modifying the 1994 ban to provide designated smoking areas inside state lockups — a move prison officials oppose.

That recommendation and others calling for more security cameras, enhanced opportunities for soon-to-be-released prisoners to interact with family and higher qualifications and pay for guards are based on interviews with 32 prisoners investigated for improper relationships with correctional officers.

The study also looked at sexual interaction between inmates and their keepers, finding that incarcerated males often initiate such affairs — almost always with women — in cynical attempts to manipulate the system. In fiscal 2010, nine employees were disciplined for sexual relationships with prisoners — offenses ranging from making sexual gestures to intercourse.

Lead author Robert Worley, a criminologist at Texas A&M University-Central Texas, called tobacco smuggling a gateway offense that can lead to the delivery of more dangerous contraband.

Once a correctional officer is compromised by supplying a single cigarette, the prisoner can blackmail the employee into providing hard drugs, cell phones, even weapons. Smuggling tobacco into a Texas prison is a felony offense.

"Tobacco is the number one drug in prisons," Worley said, adding that some prison administrators privately concede that restoring smoking privileges would make their jobs easier. "I think it would be an excellent idea to establish smoking zones in designated areas."

Texas Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee and a critic of what he considers lax prison security, agreed.

"Tobacco is an excellent management tool," he said. "You behave, you get to smoke." Justifying the ban as a health measure is disingenuous, he said. "They're trying to make them all healthy, but they're not taking other measures like providing condoms, better diet or more exercise."

Curbing contraband

Texas has spent millions to curb prison contraband — a problem highlighted two years ago after a death row inmate used a smuggled cell phone to call Whitmire. In 2009, more than 1,000 such phones were found inside state prisons.

Oliver Bell, chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, argued the tobacco ban has reduced smoking-related illness and saved taxpayers money.

"The answer does not lie in making tobacco an allowable item," he said. "Instead, our focus is on eliminating contraband before it makes its way behind prison walls."

In his study, Worley, a former correctional officer, noted that inappropriate relationships between inmates and correctional officers — economic or sexual — can "create a chaotic workplace and disrupt security and orderliness of correctional institutions."

Inmates' suggestions

Clete Snell, criminal justice chairman at University of Houston-Downtown, said he was impressed by the sophistication of many of the inmates' suggestions.

"I think that surveillance cameras within the prison is the best suggestion for supervision and accountability among officers," he said, adding that equipping police cars with cameras has reduced police misconduct and unfounded prisoner complaints.

Lyons said $6.7 million of the $10 million earmarked for prison security improvements in fiscal 2010 has been spent to place cameras in "targeted" units. About 800 have been installed at Livingstson's Polunksy Unit; cameras also are being added to units in Beaumont, Rosharon and Beeville.

Whitmire called for the effort to be expanded to all 112 Texas prisons.

He also endorsed the study's suggestion that standards and pay for correctional officers be increased.

"Bosses bring in contraband because they need the money," one inmate told researchers. "Pretty soon they start feeling pretty good, once they see they are making some real money by bringing in tobacco. If things are good, and I want other things, I might say something like, 'so what else do you play with?' An officer can make $1,000 a week by bringing in cocaine."

The study recommends correctional officers hold at least a two-year associate degree in criminal justice.

allan.turner@chron.com