What does it say about state lawmakers when Michigan gives more protections to convicts than the Legislature is willing to extend to people who work in restaurants and bars?
Not much.
The dust from the most recent battle over a statewide ban on smoking in bars and restaurants (a bill was once again quashed by Republican lawmakers) hadn't even settled when the state Department of Corrections announced smoking would be banned at Michigan prisons -- inside and out.
Smoking in any prison building has been banned since 1997; by Feb. 1 of next year, inmates and guards alike won't be able to light up or use any tobacco products even when they're out in the exercise yard.
The reason? Officials believe the prohibition will lead to healthier inmates.
Michigan has banned indoor smoking in state office buildings since 1992, and many, many businesses have followed suit. Since only about 25 percent of U.S. adults still smoke, that makes perfect sense.
There is no statewide ban on smoking in private offices or factories, but individual counties can enact bans and most have. Smoking has also been banned in most county jails in the state, including Grand Traverse.
But the tobacco companies, the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers and the Michigan Restaurant Association -- along with their GOP allies in the House and Senate -- have been fighting a fierce rear-guard action against a restaurant and bar ban for years.
So far, they've depended almost entirely on the fraud of "choice" -- for smokers, anyway. Leave it up to owners whether to allow some customers to inflict their smoke on everyone else, customers and employees alike. If employees don't like it they can just quit, they say -- in a region where the unemployment rate topped 8.3 percent in December.
This is a health issue, pure and simple. The Department of Corrections sees it that way; but lawmakers can't see responsible public policy through the smoke -- or the campaign contributions.
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