Jails face dilemma over wifi

The Irish Prison Service wants to introduce wifi in the country’s jails — but will have to find a way to stop prisoners being able to surf the internet for free.

The service has grown frustrated with the wired cabling it uses for internet access and wants to have wireless free technology which would be less expensive and time consuming.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter said the trial of the technology will examine the technical issues which could arise from the use of wifi in a prison. He said it would “especially look at whether the signal could be restricted to meet the security requirements of the Irish Prison Service”.