The government programme has sparked massive outrage in France.

The French government has been forced to end a program that provided tablets for convicted criminals. The scandal erupted when inmates boasted about their Samsung tablets on TikTok—devices that were distributed for free as part of a 120-million-euro government programme. Although the tablets were supposed to have various IT restrictions, prisoners quickly figured out how to bypass them, posing a significant national security risk.

@infospatriote 25000 tablettes Samsung distribuées au prisonnier pour un coup de 125 millions d’euros #infotiktok #prison #danger #sécurité #politique #france ♬ son original – Bruno🇲🇫🇵🇹

Even though nearly half of the allocated funds have already been spent, the government is now planning to freeze the remaining 65 million euros that have not yet been used.

Currently, there are around 25 thousand such devices are in French prisons. The original goal was to allow inmates to perform various tasks, such as writing emails to their lawyers, organizing visitation schedules, and managing their prison accounts—all directly from their cells. This was also intended to reduce the workload of prison officers, who previously had to handle these tasks on behalf of inmates before the tablets were introduced.

Some criminals, however, saw a business opportunity in all this. They began charging fellow inmates 50 for a video tutorial on how to unlock the devices, enabling unrestricted internet access, a prisoner told Le Figaro.