ABSTRACT
The role of the mainstream media in making penal practices more visible to a public infatuated with incarceration yet ignorant of its effects (Simon 2000) remains under-explored but, in seeking to comprehend more fully the mediated relationship between prisons and the public, this chapter explores two different aspects of the prisoner-media relationship. First, it discusses the ways in which popular newspapers shape public opinions about prisons and prisoners. It highlights some of the prominent themes that underpin press reporting and considers the role the media play in subduing public debate about some of the worst atrocities that take place in British prisons. Secondly, the chapter focuses attention on the other end of the media-prisoner relationship, discussing the extent to which the controversial introduction of media into prisons has qualitatively altered the experience of imprisonment. It reflects on the impact of in-cell television within prison regimes and on prisoners’ everyday lives, and considers the arguments for and against the introduction into prisons of computer resources. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the potential role of the Internet in prison.
