Digital TV for 11,000 prisoners in Belgium

Approximately 11,000 prisoners across Belgium will soon be able to make calls, watch digital TV, rent movies and play video games from their cells, the FPS Justice announced. All prisons will eventually be connected to a secure digital platform known as the Prison Cloud. The technology will also allow prisoners the opportunity to take online courses and check their judicial records. Technicians have already laid the first cables for the project, starting with Bruges and Turnhout, reports Het Laatste Nieuws.

"The exact cost of the Prison Cloud project depends on the number of cells and the amount of work required," says justice minister Koen Geens.

In the prison of Marche-en-Famenne, installation costs totalled nearly €900,000. That's a huge amount of money, admits the socialist trade union ACOD. "But we can really use this system. Thanks to the Prison Cloud, we'll be able to work more efficiently with fewer guards."