TV porn for prisoners a no-no, says Quebec public security minister

QUEBEC – Quebec will install parental controls on TV sets in its prison system to ensure inmates no longer have access to pornography, the province’s public security minister said Wednesday.

Lise Theriault said she was “horrified” when she learned that prisoners at a detention centre in Amos, about 600 kilometres northwest of Montreal, had been watching porn on TV with cable access.

The jail installed the controls on Sept. 1 and after being asked about the issue in the legislature Wednesday, Theriault said she will require all 18 detention centres run by the province to make sure porn channels are blocked.

“I was horrified to learn this existed and from now on there will be parental controls,” she said. “We aren’t talking about a hotel here — we’re talking about detention centres and (porn) will be banned from them.”

Alexandra Pare, a spokeswoman for the Public Security Department, says all pornographic material is prohibited inside Quebec jails.