PlayStation 3 barred from UK prisons
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Mar 31st 2007 at 5:00PM }
British prison just got a whole lot more hostile as prisoners are barred from having PS3s. Home Secretary John Reid banned the console because it can "send and receive radio signals." Of course, Britain loves the PS3 more than any other console, so it makes sense to only ban the PS3 and not the Wii, DS or PSP, which also have Wi-Fi. Spending a little extra the Xbox 360 can add the capability as well.It's so sad when felons have things snatched from them. We now wait to see if other consoles who use "radio signals" will also be banned from British prisons or if it's all just PlayStation hate. It must be nice to have a prison system where an issue like this comes up. In an American prison someone would file the Sixaxis into a shiv and motion control that into a fellow prisoner's soft parts.
[via PS3 Fanboy]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kye @ Mar 31st 2007 5:21PM
Personally I don't think prisons should have consoles, cable or satellite tv. Hell, I still debating with myself if I would let them have electricity and heating.
That would be for the most hardcore prisoners obviously. If you want to kill, rape and abuse kids then you deserve to be put in conditions that would make a concentration camp seem luxurious.
The minor theives and small time drug abusers would maybe get a bed.
But no way in hell are you getting a games of any sort, not even a virtual boy.
Snorri @ Mar 31st 2007 5:22PM
I'm sure that a Wii-mote would make a better shiv...
*waits for a photoshopping of a sharpened controller*
Shagittarius @ Mar 31st 2007 5:28PM
I don't see how PS3s are allowed in prisons...I think prisons should be a much more romantic place.
Caleb @ Mar 31st 2007 6:00PM
No no! Give them a Virtual Boy! That'll teach 'em.
ALH @ Mar 31st 2007 6:05PM
THIS is living
Ben @ Mar 31st 2007 6:20PM
We've got an overcrowding crisis in prisons and John Reid thinks now is the time he should be addressing that pressing issue of... PS3s?
jaz013 @ Mar 31st 2007 6:15PM
Wait a second, british prisioners can have gaming consoles? I think prisioners where, you know, having a punishment, so they can appreciate the society they affected with their actions....
Umm, well, here in Mexico is a lot worse.
Shagittarius @ Mar 31st 2007 6:24PM
Snart!
mr mobius @ Mar 31st 2007 6:35PM
The british prison system is a shambles.
They shouldn't have pool tables, never mind consoles. If the money spent on consoles (games + consoles + controllers + electricity) was spent on extra buildings or prison wardens, then it'd be better.
The prisoners don't deserve a cd-i or virtual boy, never mind ps3, 360 or wii.
I'd like to hope at least that the games brought in are strictly pg or 12 at the most (imagines prisoners playing wario ware and katamari damacy etc) or surely violence would be wrong type of games to have.
I'd say wii could be more dangerous because (as a peripheral says) it could be used as a nunchuk style device. Surely the wire of the numchuk could be used for choking someone, and the wiimote as a makeshift weapon/dildo which isn't good.
Cheesehead @ Mar 31st 2007 6:38PM
What british prisoners really need is... oh wait, they already have everything, consoles, television, rec rooms, good food, no taxes... what is the world coming to? The only tangible negative to being in jail is the fact that you might get raped up the butt.
Shagittarius @ Mar 31st 2007 6:41PM
@10
That can be more romantic than you ever imagined.
6million in 6 months @ Mar 31st 2007 6:42PM
#1 (Kye) got it right.
Tufas @ Mar 31st 2007 7:15PM
Why are prisoners being given priviliges like this?
Are they on holidays?
Are you saying all I need for a life of gaming and movie watching is to comit murder and get arrested?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Durandel @ Mar 31st 2007 7:32PM
@10
:P
@11
Whoa..
Sensai @ Mar 31st 2007 7:49PM
Wow, you people are some kinda crazy harsh.
Does anyone here, 'sides me, NOT work for Fox News?
Markham @ Mar 31st 2007 9:21PM
Harsh? Yeah, we should be nicer to people who kill, rape, and murder. Now if someone took a chainsaw to me and dismembered me in a gruesome painful way, I'd want them to have a luxurious prison cell. In fact, I'd tell them to take my bloody dismembered arm and give themselves a high-five with it.
driven2sin @ Mar 31st 2007 10:55PM
london jail is teh Biased@!
John @ Apr 1st 2007 1:48AM
PS3 should be banned from Existance
Otis Whitaker @ Apr 1st 2007 1:09AM
Prison is supposed to be reform, you know.. not a fancy time out.
That's the problem in America.. It's a no holds barred pit of no rules or laws, where they're pretty much allowed to do anything. Rape is extremely common, and you can almost get away scott free with killing a guy, if you kill him in prison.
If you're going to submit a person to that, it's better you just execute them, as that's obviously not reform.
ill trooper @ Apr 1st 2007 4:30AM
"16. Harsh? Yeah, we should be nicer to people who kill, rape, and murder. Now if someone took a chainsaw to me and dismembered me in a gruesome painful way, I'd want them to have a luxurious prison cell."
Heh... Not everyone is in prison for killing, raping, and then 'murder' on top of all that. Plus you should know that people who take chainsaws and dismember people NEVER get caught...
....Did I just hear someone pulling a starter on a chainsaw?
Defenestrator2.0 @ Apr 1st 2007 8:51PM
Wait? Prisoners can have game consoles? I thought that prison was supposed to be a friggen' punishment, not a reward. Think about it: you have all the time that you want to play video games, but you don't need to work. I'm thinking that I should go to prison. :P
desmond_boatwright @ Apr 1st 2007 10:37PM
Aren't we all already prisoners in our own clothes?... ahh! homes, was it?
phillip wright @ Jun 10th 2007 10:44AM
l have had the experience of spending several sentences in a dozen or so prisons in the south west. l believe that the consoles PS3 or Wll what ever the platform should most definitely play a part in the prison reward system. l shall try to express why this is a better option to the views above. firstly most prisons are totally over crowed and very badly under funded and as a result of this there is very little work detail and education going on so inmates fester in 23 hour lock up and in those conditions drugs become the main motivator in an inmates day so they give up waiting for a space on education or employment and become more and more violent and aggressive in there endeavours to get hold of drugs to relieve the boredom and this escalation spills onto the streets when finally released but!! with rewards like the ps3 and other consoles give just that bit of hope of obtaining something in retern for good behaviour and full co-opperation. Inmates agree to complete councilling and victim awareness etc. If you picture ever one in prison with a console your definitey wrong very few inmates manage to complete everything and behave for three to six months which is how long approx it takes and even then you only go on to a rota where by it passes along to different inmates on the ENHANCED scheme. but even though not many actually get the consoles in there cell they live under hope of it may be a bit like some of you that work for a company and work very hard in the hope of becomming promoted or even manager but knowing the chances are very slim in most cases. As for the sex offenders rapist ect that is a very difficult question l do believe that crimes agaist children in the uk should be in completely different prisons specifically designed for them. The most crazy thing about that though is thay generally gat treated better by the system than the petty theives take my word l've seen it with my own eyes its a bloody scandal look at HMP Ley hill in Glouster SW its a fully open prison you can just walk off if you fill like it!!!! one of the most comfortable prisons in the country and its approx runs with half the population being sex offenders at least a dozen or so murders of children there now or at any time they even get given jobs in the community and get paid minimum wage or more!! thank you for your time phillip wright EX- Offender