Outcry in the Netherlands as inmates are given tablets with access to erotica
Dutch prisons have found a creative way to keep inmates busy amid staff shortages – prisoners were given electronic tablets with soft porn content available on them.
A new pilot scheme involves providing inmates with tablets in overcrowded jails where daytime activities have been canceled due to staff shortages, Dutch News reports.
Prisons in the Netherlands are required to organize a program for inmates for at least 42 and a half hours a week, which must include work, visiting hours, and recreational activities.
The goal of such programs is to maintain order and security and ensure prisoners have a basic standard of living.
According to Junior Justice Minister Claudia van Bruggen, when the basic program is unavailable, the law requires compensation through activities outside the cell.
The pilot scheme aims to compensate for activities by enabling “e-learning, e-books, documentaries, and entertainment on tablets.”
Both ruling and opposition parties called for scrapping the tablet scheme, calling devices an “inappropriate luxury,” and raising concerns that inmates could use them to contact people outside the prison.
Van Bruggen said while the soft erotic content could be removed, she opposed taking the tablets away altogether.
In the United States, most prisons provide inmates with tablets that cannot connect to the internet but offer games, e-books, online classes, TV shows, and podcasts.
Some evidence suggests that access to tablets may reduce assaults and violent offenses in custody.
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