EXCLUSIVE: Tom Gordon, Scottish Political Editor
28 Nov 2010
Prisoners will soon be able to enjoy more than 100 digital TV channels in their cells, including soft-core porn, because of European regulations, the Sunday Herald can reveal.
The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) recently announced plans to buy 1600 flat screen TVs with built-in DVD players for its 8000 inmates.
The first 280 sets are due for delivery to Shotts, home to some of Scotland’s worst criminals, by March.
News of the order provoked a furious reaction from opposition MSPs, who said it would disgust ordinary members of the public.
In its initial tender document, the SPS said the sets must not contain digital TV tuners so that prison governors would be able to restrict content and supply channels through a central TV feed.
However, last week the SPS changed the specification for the 19-inch sets by deleting that restriction on digital tuners.
It means the TVs will be able to receive more than 100 Freeview channels, including late night adult content like Babestation, just like any other set.
An SPS spokesman said the phasing out of the current analogue TV signal and the switchover to digital meant there was a European requirement for all new sets to have digital tuners.
It was also cheaper to buy standard sets rather than specially adapted ones, he said. Supermarkets sell sets of the type required for as little as £130.
The spokesman confirmed prisoners with access to sets would be able to watch the full range of Freeview channels 24 hours a day, provided they did not cause a nuisance to others.
“There is a standard that says if you are producing TV sets for Europe they need digital tuners because analogue is disappearing,” he said.
Asked if the content would be restricted to a central feed, he added: “Those days are over.”
Each set will receive a standard signal from prison aerials, and this will then be converted into the full range of digital channels by the tuners.
However, he stressed that access to a TV was regarded as a privilege and was not automatic. Prisoners currently pay around £1 a week for access to an in-cell TV, a fee which means the new sets pay for themselves.
Richard Baker, the Labour justice spokesman, said the new development was another black mark against Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.
He said: “Prison is not supposed to be a home away from home. The public will be furious at the thought of offenders being allowed to watch hundreds of Freeview channels of their choice on brand new TVs.
“It would be outrageous if inmates were permitted to view soft pornography and this must not be allowed to happen.
“The SNP government can’t justify spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers money on flat screen TVs for prisons at a time when law abiding people are worried about their jobs in the face of public sector cuts. This is more evidence of Kenny MacAskill’s soft touch approach to justice.”
Glasgow MSP Bill Aitken, the Conservative justice spokesman, added: “I intend to pursue this matter with the Justice Secretary.
“Our molly-coddled, undeserving prisoners seem to have every convenience in the jails, including the capacity to watch soft porn. It’s soft touch Scotland personified.”
TVs have been a feature of Scottish prison cells since 1999.
In February, SPS announced it wanted to buy 1000 traditional 14-inch cathode ray TVs, but by October it had upgraded the order to 1600 flatscreen models.
It then changed it again to include built-in DVD players.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Over 27,000 in-cell TVs have been purchased by the prison service in England and Wales in the past two years and as in Scotland, prisoners have to pay a weekly fee for their use and any purchase of equipment is paid for by prisoners themselves. In-cell televisions have been a feature of prison since 1999 under the previous administration.
“While this is an operational matter for the SPS, the Justice Secretary will ask SPS to provide a full report about the tender.”
Jayzus, they'll be giving those fucking MRPs food next.
ReplyDeleteBabestation, eh? I must try it.
What was it those Irish priests said about the politicisation of the criminal justice system?