The passions become unbearable under conditions of forced confinement

One problem that cost many lives was smoking. A ‘cigarette butt’ – in smokers’ parlance – deliberately thrown by a guard and picked up by an inmate often led to fatal reprisals.

The rules stipulated that when a prisoner was taken for a walk in the specially arranged yards, he had to walk with his hands behind his back and his eyes to the ground. Any deviation from this discipline was severely punished with strict confinement, from which it was rare to be released in winter.

Only the poor smokers know how much they suffered from this disease. For them, prison was much harder than for non-smokers.[1]

(Dumitru Bordeianu – Confessions from the Swamp of Despair)

[1] From which it is clear that there are no trivial passions. Every passion is the undoer of the soul, because it robs the conscience, destroys man’s freedom and drives him to foolish deeds. To die for a cigarette butt is not only foolish, it is an unforgivable sin. Where he cannot win by great trials and torments, Satan wins by our “small” passions (ed.).