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Prisons Are Banning Books That Teach Prisoners How To Code (vice.com) 193

Posted by BeauHD from the banned-books dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: The Oregon Department of Corrections has banned prisoners from reading a number of books related to technology and programming, citing concerns about security. According to public records obtained by the Salem Reporter, the Oregon Department of Corrections has banned dozens of books related to programming and technology as they come through the mail room, ensuring that they don't get to the hands of prisoners. At least in official department code, there is no blanket ban on technology-related books. Instead, each book is individually evaluated to assess potential threats. Many programming-related books are cited as "material that threatens," often including the subject matter ("computer programming") as justification. The Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC) worries that prisoners could use the tools mentioned in some of the programming-related books to compromise their systems. But what's odd is the scope of the ban. Justin Seitz's Black Hat Python book failed the prison's security test since it's geared towards hacking, but so did the book Windows 10 for Dummies, Microsoft Excel 16 for Dummies which simply teaches proficiency in Excel and Windows 10.

Officials at the DOC argue that knowledge of even these basic programs can pose a threat to prisons. "Not only do we have to think about classic prison escape and riot efforts like digging holes, jumping fences and starting fires, modernity requires that we also protect our prisons and the public against data system breaches and malware," DOC spokesperson Jennifer Black said in an emailed statement. "It is a balancing act we are actively trying to achieve."
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Prisons Are Banning Books That Teach Prisoners How To Code More

Prisons Are Banning Books That Teach Prisoners How To Code

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  • Well yeah (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 21, 2019 @06:03PM (#58801616)
    One of the worst things that could happen to for-profit prisons is that their former convicts are able to re-integrate and become productive members of society.

    • Felon and former inmate here (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 21, 2019 @06:21PM (#58801726)

      So, I did a bid. Computer access was probably the single most useful enabler to allow me to get my life back together.

      I mean, I didn't read programming books in jail; didn't need to relearn that. I taught myself calculus and bookkeeping instead.

      Also, screw them for being such greedy, petty shits.

      • Congrats on getting your life together and keeping on the path!

        University, and other sorts of study can be immensely useful to the rehabilitation process, When I was at uni I had a friend, an older gentleman who was a former outlaw biker (possibly Coffin Cheater, not sure) who did 14years for homicide and during that time had a religious conversion to buddhism then completed a sociology degree and a masters in criminology via corespondence. After prison he decided not to return to the biker life and did his

    • How else are they going to encourage recitivism so the for-profit prison system keeps up the numbers on it's slave workforce while also reinforcing the fantasy that only non-whites commit all the crimes?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Ichijo ( 607641 )

      Well that depends on the profit motive.

      When the profit is in warehousing people then yes, helping convicts re-integrate and become productive members of society is financially counterproductive for the prison.

      Imagine a restaurant where the food is free but they charge by the hour to rent a table. How long do you think it would take to get your food or even to flag down a waiter? Hah!

      Let's try making prisons more like fast food restaurants where they serve (rehabilitate) you quickly and get you on your way t

  • Idiots (Score:2)

    by Zorro ( 15797 )

    NT

  • That's awesome (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I already know how to code (and how to use Excel) so I guess that I am banned from their prison too!

  • Prisoners (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Once a prisoner, you are entitled to nothing except perpetual punishment in the US. That also includes a ban on any attempt at reformation. Once they've "paid their dues to society" (HA!), they just move from the initial prison to the big house: The United States of Vengeful Americans.

    We've designed the big house to be even less humane than the lower prisons. In the big house, we take away all support, remind the trash of their misdeeds constantly, use said misdeeds to deny them life, liberty, and the pursu

    • Re: Prisoners (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      You don't just end up in prison in America. You have to actively do something to get in there. Usually it's several somethings, all quite harmful and all known to result in possible prison sentences.

      Don't do crime and you won't end up in jail.

      (And don't waste our time with the "disadvantaged minorities" junk. Any group that has members who tend to commit more crimes will have more of those members in prison.)

      • Re: Prisoners (Score:5, Informative)

        by dk20 ( 914954 ) on Friday June 21, 2019 @07:58PM (#58802190)

        Are you serious? there are a number of stories like this one : https://www.nytimes.com/2009/0... [nytimes.com]

        The answers became a bit clearer on Thursday as the judge, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., and a colleague, Michael T. Conahan, appeared in federal court in Scranton, Pa., to plead guilty to wire fraud and income tax fraud for taking more than $2.6 million in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers run by PA Child Care and a sister company, Western PA Child Care.

        There are a number of stories where local law enforcement own part of for-profit jails.. so they are keen to keep the occupancy rates hight as well..

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Cederic ( 9623 )

        You don't just end up in prison in America. You have to actively do something to get in there.

        Yeah, you have to actively choose to be too poor for proper legal representation, or actively opt to plead guilty because your lack of proper legal representation means you may not be rightly found innocent of the three centuries worth of crimes for which you're being wrongfully prosecuted, or actively obey the law in your own country then make the stupid mistake of actually travelling, or make the even bigger mistake of marrying a vindictive woman willing to lie about domestic abuse in order to improve her

  • Wrong focus (Score:4, Insightful)

    by gurps_npc ( 621217 ) on Friday June 21, 2019 @06:22PM (#58801734) Homepage

    Prisons need to be about both re-education as well as punishment and prevention,.

    They should assume the prisoners ALREADY know how to code. If you do that, then you never let them near any computer that is connected to security. It should be physically impossible for them to get to those PCs.

    If you don't do that, then no book control will stop an escape.

    If you DO do that, then it doesn't matter what books they read and reading coding books will help them get a job that will pay more than crime does.

    You need to give these people an alternative to getting back into crime. Stopping books ensures that they will be stuck in the prison loop forever. Makes the corporations overcharging money, but we citizens get screwed - from both more crime and more costing us more money to maintain prisons.

  • from connecting to the Internet. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to hack the Pentagon with my Timex Sinclair Z-81. I just got Hangman running so how much harder could it be?

  • They can just use their phones and look up online tutorials. Seriously, I don't know what Oregon has going on, but in Texas, they have few computers for anything. I inquired about an IT position at some prisons about 15 - 20 minutes from my house, and they were like, "...yeah, right....there are no computers". That was a while back, so maybe it has improved.

  • They wouldn't have to worry about people reading out of date books and hacking it.

  • So, do we want to rehabilitate them or not? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by brainchill ( 611679 ) on Friday June 21, 2019 @06:37PM (#58801800)
    We are saying that we want these prisoners to be rehabilitated so that they can get out of prison and do something for society .... well "computers and technology" are woven so tightly into every facet of modern society that understanding them is pretty much a requirement for survival today and learning to actually write code, if it really interests you, can give you an outlet that could replace addiction, etc and help people heal and have a sense of purpose ..... that seems like a good thing for a group of people that we don't want on the streets robbing, raping, murdering or selling/using drugs.

    • You are being naive. Prisons do not care about rehabilitation.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kjella ( 173770 )

      I hear you. But what the courts hear is something akin to a drunk driver complaining about how hard it'll be without a car. Many judges still grew up without the Internet and is like if I could then you can too but horse and carriage isn't really an alternative anymore.

  • Ego (Score:2)

    by ghoul ( 157158 )

    Probably hurt the Guards' ego that the prisoners were smarter than them. Many things have to go wrong in your life for you to end up in prison as a prisoner but to end up as guard in prison there is only one thing needed - be too dumb for any other job. Being sadistic is a plus but not a requirement.

  • When prisonner are already coder? (Score:3)

    by manu0601 ( 2221348 ) on Friday June 21, 2019 @06:58PM (#58801930)
    And what about prisonners that already master programming? Do they plan to brainwash them?

  • Everyone see's injustice and leaves a comment on Slashdot or their favorite social media page.

    Election time comes... no one remembers the innocents being punished, but they seem to remember a bunch of other meaningless political BS and keep voting the same way as usual.

    If you want to change this then change it! And here is one way how!

    https://fija.org/ [fija.org]

    Do you know why people have lost faith in juries? Go and look in the mirror, that's why! You don't give a shit, you just act like you do!

    • Not guilty? That's the opposite of what is needed. The lawless inner city thugs that are committing the bulk of the nations murder, rape and robbery need the hammer brought down on them.

      "innocents being punished", lolz

      • Or you could try tackling the problem before they turn into murderers, rapists, and robbers. But while some of that involves making resources available, a lot of it has to involve changing the culture. Parental involvement, value placed on education, single motherhood, glorifying gang life, etc... unfortunately you can't even begin to talk about these issues because it's a problem for the black community that can't be readily blamed on white people and suggests they might be doing something wrong culturally

        • making resources available? we're already paying them to breed more criminals and not be responsible adults. politicians in big cities get elected for promising to do even more of that and the problem gets worse.

          It is not a "shitheaded right wing solution" to insist adults be responsible for themselves and their own children, nor to punish lawbreakers and get them off the street.

          Letting them off the hook and saying "not guilty" makes even more problems

  • Security morons (Score:3)

    by meerling ( 1487879 ) on Friday June 21, 2019 @08:41PM (#58802324)
    Here's an idea, don't have the prisoners on the same system as the fucking prison!

    If they have no access to it, physical or remote, they can't do shit to it!

    Now if they get physical access, they've already taken over the prison you dumb shits!

    Sorry, I can't help but be angry at morons working security in what's effectively a security company, even if it's not a software or network based company.

  • "Not only do we have to think about classic prison escape and riot efforts like digging holes, jumping fences and starting fires, .."

    So I guess weight training or any other sport is banned too, because the muscles can be used to dig holes, jumping fences, hurt employees....

  • It would be wonderful if convicts became highly trained programmers. Anything that takes away a chance for them to prosper upon release is negative to the extreme.

  • ...and preferably if they can train them and other to be "badder", all the better for future profits.

    (That's the real problem with commercially run prisons)

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