[Osborn F Enready]

Chancellor said: They're prisoners in the custody of the state in facilities funded by the taxpayers: why should they be allowed to engage in behaviors that non-prisoners are allowed to engage in?

Firstly, tobacco has been used by every society that has known about its existence.
Secondly, smoking is not the evil it is being portrayed as, and it is an individual choice. (if the prisoner can get the smokes, who is to say they can't smoke them?!?)
Thirdly, they aren't being imprisoned to keep them away from cigarettes, they are being imprisoned to pay the price for their wrongs committed against other individuals, or groups of individuals. (why is smoking an issue at all, in relation to prisoners?)

Chancellor said: Prisons are supposed to be punitive (we all know that there is no rehabilitation going on in those places). Since when do prisoners have the right to be treated like the prison staff?

They don't, but they also don't deserve to by cruelly or unusually punished. Being allowed to smoke isn't the same as being allowed to walk the yard without shackles or oversight, as a guard would be, and its not really any type of comparison.

Chancellor said: I wonder if the province of Quebec has a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars or other indoor public places (like New York State has).

Since they are socialized healthcare, it wouldn't suprise me.

Chancellor said: If citizens who have not committed crimes are prohibited from smoking in such places, why should prisoners be allowed to smoke in facilities paid for by the taxpayers?

Because smoking is an individual choice, and just because their authoritarian government votes to restrict those rights, doesn't mean I have to condone it, or stand by silently and watch.