At least in Massachusetts, that is.
The Boston Herald reports that the Massachusetts Department of Corrections has purchased 117 new High-Definition TVs for inmates to watch this Sunday's Super Bowl.
The sets, which include 32-inch LG sets and 26-inch Sharp LCDs, cost the state $76,958 at a time when Massachusetts is laying off workers and cutting social programs. The sets are being installed in the common areas of all state DOC prisons this month.
Just stop off at your local prison, big fella.
DOC spokeswoman Diane Wiffin defends the purchase by saying the state was forced to upgrade because of the nation's scheduled switch to Digital TV signals next month. The agency formed a committee in 2007 to study the digital transition and decided to purchase the new high-def sets for the common areas rather than buy digital converter boxes, which cost between $40 and $70.
However, the DOC did buy converter boxes for prisoners' in-cell televisions.
Massachusetts is not the only state facing the problem of how to upgrade prisoners' televisions when the digital switch occurs. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Florida is planning to spend $100,000 in tax money to upgrade 1,500 prison televisions so they will operate when the switch happens. And in McLennan County in Texas, the local prison there also bought new TVs to get ready for the transition, reports The Waco Tribune.
But The Boston Herald reports that some law enforcement officials are outraged by the purchase.
“It sends the wrong message when they’re asking sheriff offices throughout the state to cut at least a million out of our budget,” said Worcester County Sheriff Guy Glodis, who says he recently removed TVs from the Worcester County House of Correction. “I would argue there are other things you can spend the money on that are more conducive to rehabilitation.”
But Wiffin told the Herald that the HDTVs were "modest" and were bought from the prisoners' 'canteen funds' rather a direct appropriation from the state. Canteen funds are accumulated by prisoner purchases of items in the prison canteen, such as food and assorted sundries.
It is unclear what happens to canteen money when it's not being used to buy high-def televisions. It's also unclear if the prisoners are allowed to watch Fox's Prison Break in their cells.
“I think you can find a better use for $77,000 than to go out and buy TVs for guys who are used to stealing them," Steve Kenneway, president of the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federal Union, told the Herald.
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