Blunt pulls plug on video games in Missouri prisons

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Gov. Matt Blunt banned video games from state prisons Monday, a month after a report that some of Missouri's most violent inmates were allowed to play games simulating murders, carjackings and the killings of police officers.

Blunt, a Republican who took office two weeks ago, called video games "a luxury that inmates should not be allowed to enjoy."

"Our penitentiaries are punitive institutions where those who have committed crimes against society are sent to pay for their actions. They are not meant to be arcades," Blunt said while announcing his executive order.

The ban applies to all video games -- violent or not.

The Department of Corrections had already removed 35 violent video games from the maximum security Jefferson City Correctional Center as The Kansas City Star prepared to publish a story about the games in early December.

The games, which were paid for with profits from the prison canteen, included titles such as "Hitman: Contracts," in which players use everything from meat hooks to silencer-equipped pistols to carry out contract killings.

Game over

Blunt said state tax dollars -- as well as employees' time -- should not be spent determining which video games are violent.

Twelve of Missouri's 21 correctional facilities have video games in their inmate recreational centers, said Blunt spokeswoman Terri Durdaller. Some have allowed them for about the past 10 years, she said.

Dave Dormire, superintendent of the Jefferson City Correctional Center, had defended nonviolent video games in December as a useful tool for keeping prisoners occupied and out of trouble.

Dormire did not immediately return a call Monday seeking comment about Blunt's video game ban. Corrections Department spokesman John Fougere said he could not comment and referred all questions about the video game policy to the governor's office.

Blunt said video games should not be permitted simply as a way to keep inmates busy.

"That kind of writes them off," he said. "It's a correctional institution designed to ensure that they understand they've committed a wrong act against society and they're being punished for that.

"Hopefully they might pick up skills and abilities that will allow them to go back out into society and be productive citizens," Blunt said. "Playing video games doesn't have anything to do with either of those objectives."

Blunt's executive order said only two other states allow video games in prison. He cited a survey by the American Correctional Association.

But just 44 states responded to that voluntary 2002 survey, which asked states to list the electronics equipment they allowed in prisons. Just Maine and West Virginia listed video games. Missouri did not -- raising the possibility that other states also allowed video games but simply failed to list them alongside televisions and radios.

"This is self-reported data," said Joe Weedon, spokesman for the Lanham, Md.-based association. "We asked the generic question, 'please list all the electronic equipment permitted,' and their responses came back with varying degrees of accuracy."

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On the Net:

Holden: http://www.gov.mo.gov

Corrections: http://www.doc.missouri.gov