Facebook Pulls the Plug on Pestering Prisoners - The UpStream

With technology taking over, being behind bars doesn't necessarily exclude you from the world as much as it used to. In fact, security seems to be much more lenient. With some prisons allowing inmates to watch television is their cells, to somehow being able to gain access to the Internet, being locked up doesn't seem half bad. In England, 30 pages have been taken down by Facebook, pages of prisoners. The prisoners were able to use these pages to provoke victims and their families from the slammer.

Jack Straw, UK Justice Secretary stated "The abuse of social networking sites by prisoners is offensive to public morality and decency -- updating these sites from within prison is an offence under prison rules and using them to abuse victims is deplorable."

Inmates gained access to the Internet through cell phones illegally smuggled into the jails and through acquaintances outside prison. The main targets of these attacks have been the families of victims that were murdered. It's pretty scary to think that your sibling's, parent's, or some other relative's murderer is able to get online to threaten you or brag about their "accolades." Usually when criminals are sentenced, the family can finally be relieved, but because of this the criminals continue to hold all of the power.

Good news is, Facebook is not putting up with this. They began by removing many of the pages and made it clear that "Facebook's rules ban from harassment or intimidation." The UK also plans to address the situation by tightening security with a "body orfice" scanner that should cut down on smuggled cell phones. Getting locked up just isn't what it used to be!