Sweden bans consoles in prison

  • By Benjamin Golze, GameSpot
  • Posted Aug 13, 2004 1:51 pm PT

Recent jailbreaks force prison officials to crack down on communication abilities in gaming systems.

The Swedish prison service has banned PlayStations and other gaming systems in its prisons, according to reports in the Swedish press. The Internet connectivity and inherent unmonitored communication in the current generation of consoles proved to be too much of a security risk, officials said.

"To a certain extent, these games are harmless, but with some technical skills, they can be used for communication," the head of prison security Christer Isaksson told the Sydsvenska Dagbladet newspaper.

Some reports claim that some inmates had built small mobile telephones into the sides of their consoles. Furthermore, prison officials worry that prisoners are using memory cards to disseminate information to the outside world.

The move is a result of recent calls for better security at Swedish prisons. Two separate jailbreaks occurred at high-security prisons in the last two weeks. Both saw long-term prisoners aided by outside assistance. In one case, an entire carful of armed accomplices facilitated the escape of an inmate. All fugitives have since been captured.

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