Exclusive - Prison Service: Tabloids Lied about Wiis in Jail

The Prison Service in the UK has responded to SPOnG regarding claims made initially to Anthony Bond in the East Anglian Daily Times and later picked up by national tabloids that inmates at a Suffolk prison had, "Nintendo Wii consoles before they were available on the high street..."

Basically, it's a lie.

A Prison Service spokesperson told SPOnG this afternoon, "This story is categorically untrue." Seeking clarification we asked whether the entire story was untrue. We were told, "You called and asked us whether prisoners had Nintendo Wiis before they were available on the High Street. This is categorically untrue."

We followed up by asking if prisoners at Warren Hill had any access to the console. We were told, "Prisoners at HMP Warren Hill do not have access to Nintendo Wiis. Prisoners have never been allowed access to wireless enabled technology such as that used in some games consoles. Nor would they ever be allowed access to such technology."

The claims were made by former substance misuse worker Helen Stanner and were picked up by The Sun and The Daily Mail both of which stated that "country's worst juvenile offenders" incarcerated in Warren Hill prison in Suffolk use 50-inch plasma TVs and Wiis.

For it's part, Nintendo in the UK also confirmed the lack of truth in the claims from its point of view, telling SPOnG, "I can confirm that Nintendo UK did not supply Wii consoles before launch".