Whether they wanted to slap on a nicotine patch, chew gum or go cold turkey, smokers at Michigan correctional facilities were forced to kick the habit under a statewide tobacco ban enacted Feb. 1.

The ban prohibits the possession of cigarettes and other tobacco products by inmates and prison employees. Switching to a smoke-free environment has resulted in few problems, said Bruce Curtis, regional prison administrator for 12 prisons in southeast Michigan, including the four facilities in Jackson County.

Some small "isolated incidents" have occurred, in which inmates have been caught hiding tobacco, he said.

"We've also found some contraband tobacco, like we would find contraband anything," Curtis said. "There was concern, but we didn't receive any major threats of rioting or anything like that."

This smooth transition was echoed at the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility, 3500 N. Elm Road, Warden Debra Scott said.

"It actually went much better than I ever anticipated," Scott said. "There is nothing that we could point to that said, `This critical incident was because of tobacco."

Cotton corrections officer John Mills smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for 22 years, until he quit on Oct. 14 with smoking-cessation medicine to prepare for the ban.

"I didn't know if I could go eight hours without smoking, so I gave it a shot and quit completely,'' Mills said. ``It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be."

A Tobacco Cessation Committee, of wardens and regional prison administrators, informed people about the ban; coordinated stop-smoking efforts; and made recommendations based on bans in other states, said Russ Marlan, state Department of Corrections spokesman.

"Nobody in the departments in any of these facilities was in the dark about anything," he said.

Andy Potter, state vice president of the Michigan Corrections Organization, lobbied the cessation committee to allow officers to smoke, but the committee "flat-out refused," he said.

"We didn't argue whether or not someone should or should not be allowed to smoke or whether or not it was bad for your health,'' Potter said. "We only argued that the officers be given ... a particular place to go to use tobacco products."

Potter has received complaints of assaults by inmates since the ban became official.

"It isn't as much the product or the contraband itself ... it's the power struggle that comes behind it," Potter said.

Assault numbers did not rise significantly after the ban was put into place, and it is difficult to say an assault is related directly to tobacco, Curtis said.

"When we check with all of the institutions, there's not any major issues that would be out of line with normal operations," Curtis said. "If it weren't tobacco, it would probably be something else."

The availability of tobacco products for purchase at prisoner stores decreased gradually over time, said Scott, who participated in the cessation committee. Additional measures were used to lessen the presence of tobacco, according to state officials:

• Smoking-cessation programs were offered at all prisons
• Smoking-cessation products, such as stop-smoking kits, nicotine gum and patches, were sold
• Wardens were encouraged to arrange presentations and guest speakers

The American Friends Service Committee Criminal Justice Office fights for prisoner advocacy in the state. Co-director Penny Ryder said the office has not received complaints about the ban, and she has spoken with some prisoners at Cotton.

"The few people that I've talked to who were heavy smokers and who waited until the last minute (to quit) said they were adjusting well," said Ryder, adding the Ann Arbor-based organization gets about 3,000 letters a year.

Smoking indoors at state correctional facilities has been banned since the 1990s, Marlan said. He estimated about 40 percent to 50 percent of the state's inmates smoked, as well as 20 percent to 25 percent of the employees.

"We don't have any reason to think now that we're going to have a major problem," Curtis said. "Now, we're hopefully on the downhill side of that, and people have learned they can do without tobacco."