The Potential of Video Games in Prison

Video games can be helpful for people both inside and leaving prison. They’re not only entertaining, but they can help people deal with the trauma of prison and re-entry in the community.

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During the Covid pandemic, games provided a stress relieving and mentally stimulating escape from the effects of lockdown. If gaming can have such positive effects on player well-being during a global pandemic, they may be a game changer in prison environments.

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Video games in prison could have many potential benefits. Just like during the pandemic, playing video games can serve as a form of escapism, helping to alleviate stress and anxiety associated with prison life. The mind isn’t designed for constant stress and anxiety, and engaging in gaming can provide a temporary reprieve from the harsh realities of confinement.

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Saving for a console and the games could be a reason to go to work, and looking forward to new game releases could keep you engaged in what’s happening in the world. It would also make staff safer as video games would provide a constructive outlet, reducing frustration and aggression, reducing conflicts and violent incidents within correctional facilities. Keeping your console and games could also be a motivator for good behaviour.

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Video games can also be educational. Many video games require reading, strategic and problem-solving skills, which can help enhance cognitive abilities. I learnt how to read from playing video games when I was younger – so did many of my friends. Our school was pretty rubbish, but Final Fantasy on PlayStation wasn’t. We really wanted to know what the words said. So we asked people to tell us, and we remembered. We really wanted to defeat the bosses, so we figured out the puzzles.

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Unfortunately, the use of video games in correctional facilities is not uniform and varies significantly between states and prisons. Some facilities permit limited access. Many strictly prohibit video games due to security concerns or the perception they are an inappropriate luxury. The decision to permit or ban video games often reflects a facility’s philosophy regarding punishment versus rehabilitation.

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There are obvious concerns about the potential misuse of gaming equipment, and there are occasions where they have been misused. To that I’ve always said, ‘if a person gets hit with a mug, do you ban mugs? Then they get hit with a chair, would you ban chairs?’ So, rather than saying why it can’t happen, figure out how it can happen.

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As I alluded to earlier, there is the unfortunate attitude that prison is a place of punishment and video games are a luxury item that inmates don’t deserve. Legally though, going to jail is the punishment, not what happens there.

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My jail didn’t allow gaming consoles. I remember one of the guys (who was very well-behaved) was utterly determined to get a video gaming console. He lodged constant requests and inquiries, but to no avail. The system just wasn’t interested.

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After years of longing for my old PlayStation, the first thing I did when I got out was get a Switch.

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Now, years later. and I still don’t smoke, I don’t do drugs or binge drink. I don’t even eat much junk food. I do, however, have nightmares of prison. But I play video games every day. And I cope. Maybe I would have coped better in jail if I had an outlet then. Maybe I’d not be having so many nightmares now.

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I honestly credit video games as one of the major reasons I’m still free.