Prisoners in England and Wales are to be banned from playing 18-rated games. They have video games in prison?
It seems the ban is a cut back as a result of prison overcrowding, and according to the BBC, the government spent more than £10,000 on 80 PlayStations and 15 Xbox consoles for young offender institutions.
Geoff Dobson, the deputy director of the Prison Reform Trust has attempted to reassure taxpayers they won’t be funding the prisoner privileges in future, saying “no further public money” will be spent on video games.
“For those prisoners permitted to use games consoles in cell, the cost of purchasing consoles and games will rest solely upon the prisoner and will not be met by the taxpayer,” he said.
Some would question whether offenders should be given games at all, but the spokesman was quick to defend the situation.
“I don’t think anyone would have a great problem with incorporating these into a good behaviour programme, but we should not forget the usefulness of these games to prison officers and governors keeping order in overcrowded prisons,” he said.
“But the bottom line is access to computer games is no substitute for purposeful activity like work or education classes, both of which are being cut back because the government is failing to tackle the underlying reasons for the rise in the prison population.”
Controversial stuff. Let us know what you think in the comments below.
(Via BBC)
