NYC Blows $59K On Playstation Games For Prisoners

[Sugar Cookie]

The city Correction Department burned $59,260 in taxpayer cash on new “Playstation 4 and 5” games to keep inmates in line, The Post has learned.

The staggering sum, which city records show was earmarked for the agency’s Adult Programs Division, was used to purchased 1,247 games, including dozens of copies of bloody fighting titles such as Mortal Kombat 1 and Street Fighter 6, as well as this year’s Madden NFL and NBA 2K24, agency spokeswoman Latima Johnson said.

“You have homeless people who don’t have anything, but if you come to jail, you have everything — we’ll spend $59,000 for video games!” one correction officer of 15 years told The Post.

Throughout the week, groups of inmates from select housing units pour into rec rooms on a rotating basis to play the games, according to a longtime officer.

Access to the consoles, the officer said, is “definitely holding the carrot over” inmates’ heads to get them to cut down on fighting and rule-breaking in the clink, especially in facilities housing younger perps.

DOC has relied on video games in recent years to keep problematic inmates under control, with then-Commissioner Cynthia Brann admitting in 2018 that jail officials dangled access to consoles as a way to get “persistently violent” offenders to follow the rules.

Jailhouse crock: NYC blows $59K on Playstation games for prisoners

NYC’s Department of Correction spent nearly $60,000 in taxpayer cash on new Playstation 4 and 5 video games, according to city records.

nypost.com

 

[Taishobee]

I wonder if the consoles are clear cased like most other electronics in jail or prisons