British taxpayers funded £15 million in TVs for prisons from 2019-2024; prisoners pay for access, and access can be revoked.
Taxpayers in Britain paid over £15 million for televisions going to prisoners, with the spending occurring since the start of 2019. This data was obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
Specifically, £15,035,793 was spent on prisoner TVs. The Ministry of Justice says prisoners pay for TV access. The claim is that the money is often recovered, sometimes almost all the cost.
From 2019 to 2024, 181,800 TVs were purchased, costing an average of just under £83 each. A Prison Service person told the Daily Star that prisoners pay for in-cell TVs, but these TVs can be removed if rules are broken.
Good behavior grants prisoners access to TV, but this access can be quickly taken away if prisoners misbehave. The TVs have limited volume and channels, and also feature a shortened power cable.
In 2022/23, prisons spent £4,579,545 on TVs, the most in that period, purchasing over 48,000 TVs. The second highest spending occurred the year before, with £2,936,563 spent on over 33,000 TVs.
The British TaxPayers’ Alliance criticized this expense, expressing unhappiness about spending on prisoners. William Yarwood, speaking for the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said taxpayers will be shocked by the TV cost and ministers need to get control.
Yarwood believes prison should be punishment, not TV time. The Daily Star also learned about TVs in shared spaces, such as gyms and chapels, which excludes TVs inside prisoner cells.
In 2023/24, HMYOI Cookham Wood spent the most, at £17,437.97 on 184 TVs for communal spaces. The same place spent the second most the year before, at £12,839.50 on 212 TVs.
HMP Werrington spent even more than HMYOI Cookham Wood, spending £19,821.00 on 127 TVs. In 2019 to 2020, HMYOI Feltham spent the most, followed by HMYOI Wetherby.
Feltham spent £31,258.50 for 898 TVs; this was the last year with available data.