PrisonCloud voor gedetineerden : grenzen aan digitale normalisering?

Abstract:PrisonCloud for inmates. Limits to digital normalization? Digital media and technology are affecting our lives in profound ways. The ongoing digitalization has even been called a new industrial revolution. For a long time, prisons have been considered as total institutions. Social developments over time, however, opened them up to the outside. In this contribution we report on PrisonCloud, a digital platform recently introduced in some new-built Belgian prisons. We contextualize this development and compare with earlier, similar prison regime reforms, especially those during the post-World War II period, when access to radio, television, telephone and computers became progressively available for inmates. These outside developments entered into life behind bars on the basis of a fragile balance between principles of normalization and less eligibility and were also affected by security considerations. The question arises whether and how such debates play a role concerning the digitalization of prison regimes.

Publication year:2019

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