Last week, the Iowa Senate voted to ban prison inmates’ access to cable television.

Currently, two of Iowa’s eight prisons, Clarinda and Fort Madison, have cable television.

Prison officials say the only reason for the cable is because inmates receive poor reception of local stations.

Herb Maschner, warden at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison says having cable television also reduces the amount of violence in prisons. In addition, inmates pay for the cable bill with money from prison commissions. No taxpayer dollars are used to provide for cable.

While the bill is likely to be sent back to the Senate, the issue is not about giving prisoners access to cable television. It is about whether television is really a necessity in prison.

If studies show that an activity like watching a television screen reduces violence, isn’t it likely that an activity a hundred times more constructive will do the same?

Lawmakers and prison officials should strongly consider eliminating television and add more labor intensive activities to keep inmates busy.

Prisoners spend their time reading books and writing letters of appeal. This can get monotonous in the first few years. Instead of wasting time watching television, inmates can use their spare time to do little things for the good of society. Prisoners across the country have restored bicycles, built toys for children for Christmas, taught classes and maintained tourist attractions like Alcatraz. These are activities that are apt to keep most people’s minds off doing anything violent.

Give Iowa’s inmates something more constructive to do than watching television.