Inmates allowed Skype calls home

TEENAGE inmates in a young offenders’ unit are being allowed to make Skype calls to loved ones, a report claims.

The Ministry of Justice has given them access to taxpayer-funded laptops and tablets to contact their families.

Ministers say the ‘virtual visits’ help rehabilitate offenders. But critics will seize on the findings as fresh evidence jails are too cushy. They will add to concerns at a time when governors are facing a security crisis. The scheme emerged in a prisons watchdog report into the young person’s unit at HMP Parc in Bridgend, South Wales, which holds up to 60 boys aged between 15 and 18.

Tory MP Phillip Hollobone said prisons were not meant to be ‘holiday camps’. But the MoJ said strict controls ensured the technology was not abused.