PrisonCloud voor gedetineerden. Grenzen aan digitale normalisering?

authors Eric Maes
  Jana Robberechts
  Kristel Beyens
  Luc Robert
journal Panopticon (ISSN: 771-1409)
volume Jaargang I Volume 40
issue Issue 1. Januari / Februari 2019
section Artikel | Article
publicatie datum 20 mars 2019
langue Dutch
pagina 29
keywords less eligibility, PrisonCloud, digitalization, digitalisering, normalisering, normalization
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.

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