PlayStations

The other day I was visited by a person who had had no previous experience of prison and during the conversation, PlayStations were mentioned. He raised an eyebrow.."You have PlayStations?!"

He was terribly polite but a touch of incredulity slipped through.

Yes, numbers of us have PlayStations. But as with everything prison-related, it's not that straightforward. What privileges we are allowed is always contentious, fair enough, but people rarely appreciate the context of the reality.

Our individual privileges are determined by our level on the Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme. The better our behaviour, the higher our privileges. We earn them. Rewarding pro-social behaviour is not, I think, wholly objectionable?

Once we achieve that level of privileges, we may be allowed a PlayStation. Not a PS 3, though. Don't let your imagination carry you away. Some prisons only allow us to have PlayStation One's, defunct for a decade. At best, we can have a PS2. And the games we are allowed are restricted to those below Rated 18.

Of course, telling a man he can have a PlayStation is one thing. Actually getting one is quite another! The Governor doesn't come and present it, wrapped in a ribbon. We have to buy it with our own money.

On an average wage of around £7, and with a PS2 costing at least £50 (second hand), plus the cost of games, it can be appreciated that being allowed a PlayStation and actually having one are two different things. And it is confiscated in the face of poor behaviour.

There is a constituency that would profoundly object to this. I invite them to throw in their points at this juncture.