Abstract
Research showing how the digitalisation of the prison cell influences lived experiences is conspicuous by its absence. This chapter, based on an ethnography of a Belgian prison equipped with the digital platform PrisonCloud, illustrates how the increasingly multifunctional digital cell impacted upon physical and social interactions. The consequences of digitalisation, and the relocation of facilities to the prison cell, are explored through observations and interviews with prisoners, prison officers, and administrative staff. The results find that the use of in-cell digital technology has the potential to alter prisoner-staff interactions and the prisoner’s position of dependency and that it also generates new forms of isolation.
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Notes
- 1.
In Belgium, prison officers are allowed to strike and it is not uncommon. As the Belgian government has repeatedly been criticised by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) for the detrimental consequences of striking upon prisoners, mandatory guaranteed minimum service of prison officers during strikes has been introduced by law in 2019.
- 2.
In this chapter, we will use the term ‘digital prison’ for prisons where PrisonCloud is installed and ‘non-digital prisons’ for prisons where PrisonCloud is not installed.
- 3.
The standard phone system is based on a blacklist, allowing prisoners to call anyone but the numbers on this list. This can however be adjusted to the use of a white list, allowing prisoners only to phone the numbers that have given consent.
- 4.
The chapter does not specifically elaborate on the access to media in prison but rather focuses on the digital infrastructure in general.
- 5.
The research ‘Digitalisation in prison’ (Nr. G024316N) is funded by the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) and promoters Prof. Kristel Beyens (Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)) and Dr. Eric Maes (National Institute for Criminalistics and Criminology (NICC)). Researcher: Jana Robberechts (VUB).
- 6.
Since 2019 in-cell telephones have been gradually implemented in non-digital prisons.
- 7.
1207 is a free service directory providing phone numbers and addresses.
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Robberechts, J., Beyens, K. (2020). PrisonCloud: The Beating Heart of the Digital Prison Cell. In: Turner, J., Knight, V. (eds) The Prison Cell. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39911-5_13
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