Prisoners pay less to watch TV than hospital patients

[daffy654]

http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Hospital-patients-pa y-far-more.3961269.jp

This seems very unfair to me,does anyone else agree? I have no idea what the solution is but something is wrong when criminals get to watch TV for �1.00 per week and hospital patients pay more than that daily.

[sue11]

I am undecided on this one. I understand that they work in the prison and can earn money, but this is an extremely small sum that they then use to buy items such as pens and paper and such. If I am correct then I presume that the charge for watching tv would also have to be reduced accordingly?
Not sure really what the answer is, but I would like to see prisoners put their time to better use in prison rather than watching tv. I am not sure what, but something that would be useful to society to pay us back for the cost of keeping them in there!

[Gromit]

This is down to the creeping Privatisation of the NHS. The local hospital trusts have got in private firms to provide the televisions and the customer/patients have to p[rovide these firms with a profit.

Entertainment in prisions (including television) will be provided by the tax-payer.

[daffy654]

I have been an inpatient in hospital quite a few times but have never bothered paying for the bedside TV as I always thought the charges were too high. In our hospital they even have representatives of the company who supply the TV's coming round daily to ask if you want to buy the top-up cards. I think the TV charges in prison should be similar to the hospital ones and if the prisoners can't afford it then they don't get to watch,or have to use a communal TV.

[Quinlad]

There is a crowd-control element to prison TV though.

It keeps the inmates occupied - no doubt saving us money overall. We don't need to pay for more prison officers to keep the peace, we don't need to fund expensive acitivities to replace the TV-watching and we don't need to fork out for building repairs when they riot and start lobbing tiles off the roof. The Strangeways riot wasn't cheap.

Just a thought.

[daffy654]

I do see your point quinlad,but I still think the pricing is wrong. They are in prison because they committed crimes but in most cases hospital patients are in hospital through no fault of their own.
It is also annoying to be laid in a hospital bed trying to rest and have to listen to the TV from the bed next to you.........but that is a whole other topic.lol

[Gromit]

Maybe the hospitals should be more like the prisons. Maybe the NHS Trusts should not participate in ripping of their sick customers. Just a thought.

[daffy654]

Its never going to happen though is it Gromit? The hospitals allegedly don't make money from the company and the charges are high to cover the cost of installing and maintaining the equipment........so their spokesperson said on BBC Breakfast a few months ago anyway.I wish they would remove the equipment completely and go back to the days of day rooms with a TV and telephones on wheels that could be moved from bed to bed if necessary!

[daffy654]

Hopefully the cash goes back into the prison system wizard but somehow I doubt it.