Even Silicon Valley's Prison Inmates Have Their Own Startup Incubator 88
pigrabbitbear writes "There's a specific and stereotypical set of activities that spring to mind when you imagine what prison inmates do with their spare time. If there's a yard, they probably hang out, lift weights, get in fights, organize gangs. If there's not a yard, they might read books, write letters, get in fights, organize gangs. They don't write business plans and get giddy over startup ideas. But that's exactly what's happening at San Quentin State Prison, about an hour north of Silicon Valley. For the first time this year, the Last Mile program at the maximum security facility helped five inmates learn the ins and outs of social media and entrepreneurship in an effort to connect those who've been inside for several years with the technological reality of life on the outside. The tricky part about the future forward program is that many of its participants have never used a computer, and, since prison regulations forbid any contact with the outside world, won't be able to use one until they've served their sentences."
Re:Should be able to use a offline computer at lea (Score:5, Interesting)
Isn't that part of the punishment/revenge we want to inflict on those in prison? Never being able to function in society again, so they reoffend and stay the hell out of the way of the good, righteous, god-fearing folk.
Re:Should be able to use a offline computer at lea (Score:2, Interesting)
You forgot that the US prison system is privatized with 48 states signing a contract that they will make sure all prisons at at least 90% full.
In the past, penology 101 was about rehabilitating, where the inmate had a chance at a job once out. Then it was the incapacitation aspect, where a crook wasn't on the streets. Finally the deterrence aspect of "oh shit, if I do this, I'll end up behind bars."
Now, the goal is simple: The goal is to warehouse every warm body put in the system for the rest of their lives. Rehab? That means an inmate may not commit a new offense and wind up back (which means less money going to the private prison industry.) Judges know this, but are forced to have a conviction ratio or else they will be replaced come election season by a judge who will convict. Cops know this, because if they don't get enough "points" by arrests, the guy who whips out the handcuffs first and asks questions later will get the raises and rank.
You think a private prison who pares staff to the bone and pays their COs $8.00 an hour (compared to the county jail that pays a living wage) gives a shit about computers in the big house? All they care about is that their beds are full, and that there is no footage of riots or gang rapes that will ever leave their walls.