e-Prisons and New Technologies

Abstract

The development of new technologies of information and communication (ICT) is creating a new group at risk of social exclusion: digital illiterates. This factor can be accumulated with other causes of exclusion, greatly complicating the full social inclusion. This is the case of a significant part of the prison population group in which the authors focused their study. The authors’ work presents a quantitative study on the prison population in Galicia (Spain). The authors have analyzed their knowledge and attitudes toward learning to use new technologies, concluding that it would be necessary to implement courses to help familiarize this group with the use of computers, since most do not have much knowledge in this area, to prevent isolation of the “communication society”.