Thursday, May 24, 2007

Prisons and playstations

It was a note of interest to some people a few months ago that the Ministry of Defence spent quite a lot of money on PlayStations for its service personnel on deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Personally I don't have a problem with a bit of spending on PlayStation for people that are willing to take bullets or roadside bombs on behalf of their country. Providing the means to p[lay a bit of Tekken for troops is not particularly scandalous.

However, what I did find a bit more of a concern was that the Prison Service buys PlayStations for prisoners, and it also has no idea how much it spends on games for them. What's wrong with a chess board, scrabble or a pack of cards though? Prison is the place you go where you broke the law, so why should you get lots of fancy electronic technology that many people who have not broken the law cannot afford to buy?

One saving grace at least is that the PS3 has been banned in prisons because it can send as well as receive radio signals. Personally I'd ban the others as well, prison is meant to be a punishment after all.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't let them have a hoop and stick.

jailhouselawyer said...

Wrong again. The Prison Service does not buy prisoners playstations they buy their own.

Prison is not meant to be a place of punishment, prisoners are sent there as a punishment which is the sentence of the court.

You really ought to only write about those subjects you know. Your level of ignorance is staggering.

Chris Paul said...

Thanks goodness you're not in charge ... keeping prisoners as happy as possible given that their liberty has been taken away and they live in concrete boxes with less than perfect facilities seems like a recipe for safer lives for those that guard them to me.

Anonymous said...

And at the same time, no special loos for muslims. If they don't want to pee or do their business facing mecca, they shouldn't do things that get them put in prison. Also, no korans. It only corrupts them further.

dizzy said...

Mr Hirst, if I'm wrong then that means Fiona McTaggart lied to Parliament on 20th March 2006. Of course actually I'm not wrong, I'm right.

However, this post wasn't about prisons or playstations. I only did it to see how easy it would be to manipulate you into posting a comment.

Online social engineering is wonderful thing, don't you think?

Anonymous said...

"..keeping prisoners as happy as possible given that their liberty has been taken away..."

Oh, boo hoo! You make it sound like it was something done to them out of the blue!

If they'd like to not spend any time in 'concrete boxes with less than perfect facilities' may I suggest they don't do the crime...?

Old BE said...

It's about time there was a deterrent against what you might called "anti-social behaviour". That deterrent should be being locked up in a concrete box with less than perfect facilities for as long as it takes the person to realise that they won't do whatever it was again!

Until we have punishment enough to persuade people not to break the law then people won't take any notice of the law.

jailhouselawyer said...

She isn't the first person to have lied to Parliament, and I doubt that she will be the last. Fancy believing a politician. I suspect that she was mistaken. I bow down to your superior knowledge of prison life. Ok, what would you like to bet on it? I say you are wrong. Check out the KEPS and IEPS.

You didn't manipulate me into anything, it was purely free will. If something interests me then I respond.

I'm not a big fan of social engineering.

But, I enjoy mind games. I'm a master at it. That's why I knew Iain Dale isn't a genius.

Anonymous said...

I still haven't come down on one side or the other after following your link to the "Burning Debate 2". I haven't got 500 quid for a pretend X-box, so I'm not convinced by the sexy exterior of the Gaystation.

I still sneak in to youtube on a daily basis to watch that clip. Thank you, Dizzy, thank you.

Anonymous said...

You are the arrogant one, Hirst. Yes, you have experience of prison, and we all know why. Why they let you out god only knows, but it is clear to us all that you are simply not to be trusted, that you have an axe to grind about your own incarceration, and as you will doubtless be making another visit to HM's penitentiaries, it is in your best interest to have them reach ***** status.

Anonymous said...

I echo Chris Paul's statement. I know how quiet computer games keep my offspring. Makes sense.