[sssshhhh]

I have voted no. They are there to be punished for commiting a crime. They already have access to pool tables, books etc. This should be enough.

I can see the point that it would be good for rehabilitation/educational purposes, and I agree that rehabilitation has to sit alongside punishment in a prison environment. But imo anything relevant on the net to any subject/course a prisoner is studying should be taken off by staff and provided in another format they can access that doesn't involve the prisoner sitting at the pc and logging on to the www themselves.

In terms of a prisoner using the net to clear their name, the system already allows for this in terms of appeals processes and the like. THere are obviously occasions where this is not possible. no money for barristers etc. So I think there should be a monitered system in place that is run by a party away from the prison staff at that particular institution. And if agreed that the prisoner has enough grounds to warrant time given online to source information then it should be monitered by the right impartial people, but who still have the intrests of the law and the public at the forefront.