An inmate sued, alleging that the state’s correctional facility was not in compliance with the New York State Clean Indoor Air Act when his instructor and several students in a drafting class at the correctional facility were smoking.  The court ruled that the act “does not give rise to a cause of action in tort, and there is no general duty on the part of the State to provide inmates with a smoke-free environment.”  An Eighth Amendment violation is not properly before the court because Zulu did not allege that the secondhand smoke he experienced had or could have a serious effect on his present or future health.

2001 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 822.