Prisoners Can Be Internet Entrepreneurs Too

[Greg Tito]

Prisoners Can Be Internet Entrepreneurs Too

A program at a maximum security prison in Silicon Valley teaches inmates how to succeed in business.

Anyone who's seen The Shawshank Redemption knows that it can be hard for people who've been institutionalized for most of their life to integrate back into a free society. If that was true of mid-twentieth century Maine - the setting of Shawshank - it's even more true now. A person who's been in jail for 10 years has never seen an iPhone and probably has a different idea of what a Tweet is. San Quentin Prison, in San Francisco, runs the Last Mile program [http://thelastmilesq.com/about/]to prevent prisoners from falling behind the technology curve. The program instructed five prisoners this year on social media and business, and the inmates presented mock business plans utilizing their newfound knowledge in preparation for their release. But here's the kicker, U.S. law prevents prisoners from directly contacting the outside world so many of these proposals are created without the inmate ever touching a computer.

"I've driven by San Quentin every day for the last 14 years, but never bothered to understand the prison system," said Chris Redlitz, head of the KickLabs tech accelerator and founder of the Last Mile program. "These guys will be getting out at some point. We want them to come out of the program and be contributing members of society."

The inmates in Redlitz's program have led hard lives and made some terrible mistakes, but that doesn't mean they can't come up with ideas and rebuild their lives once they are free. One prisoner created a program called Teen Tech Hub for kids to learn about computers after school. Another prisoner serving a 25-year to life sentence devised a form of fantasy football [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_football_(American)] which allows the player to call specific plays while watching the professional athletes playing the game.

Redlitz has even enlisted figures like Guy Kawasaki and MC Hammer to give lectures on business and social media. "Obviously, the people in the program have committed a crime and they are paying for that now," he said. "But look at the core characteristics of the entrepreneur - many of these guys have them. And maybe some won't create companies that go anywhere, but what they're getting from the program is confidence and communication skills that are super-important for whatever they do next."

I may be a bleeding-heart liberal, but I think the Last Mile program will do wonders for helping people in our clogged prison system feel they can rejoin society at some point instead of feeling institutionalized like poor old Brooks [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kotNxb2YApk].

Source: ReadWriteWeb [http://www.readwriteweb.com/start/2012/07/from-inmates-to-entrepreneurs-the-san-quentin-startup-accelerator.php]

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[Gilhelmi]

I am relatively conservative. I also think this sounds like a good idea. Turning these criminals into productive members of society is far more cost effective then locking them up for life.

Its a good thing.

 

[Scars Unseen]

I am relatively conservative. I also think this sounds like a good idea. Turning these criminals into productive members of society is far more cost effective then locking them up for life.

Its a good thing.

Agreed. I think that anything that can put a convict in a position where he is less likely to be a repeat offender is a good thing. Well so long as it doesn't become a huge tax burden, anyway. But I don't see this as being terribly different than giving cons access to a legal library. I'm always in favor of education.

 

[Meight08]

I wondered When america would learn something about how we handle prisons in europe.

 

[Gilhelmi]

I am relatively conservative. I also think this sounds like a good idea. Turning these criminals into productive members of society is far more cost effective then locking them up for life.

Its a good thing.

Agreed. I think that anything that can put a convict in a position where he is less likely to be a repeat offender is a good thing. Well so long as it doesn't become a huge tax burden, anyway. But I don't see this as being terribly different than giving cons access to a legal library. I'm always in favor of education.

I just thought of a slogan.

"Education, not Incarceration"

I like the nonprofit organizations, I know of one the goes into prisons and help inmates get their High School diploma. I even thought about joining a group with my Church that goes into prisons to minister too the inmates.

 

[Gilhelmi]

I wondered When america would learn something about how we handle prisons in europe.

How do you do it in Europe?

 

[Meight08]

I wondered When america would learn something about how we handle prisons in europe.

How do you do it in Europe?

Well in most of Europe prison's aren't about punishment but more about getting them back into society and become functioning member's of society again.
In most american prison's prison rape is often expected to happen.

 

[Gilhelmi]

I wondered When america would learn something about how we handle prisons in europe.

How do you do it in Europe?

Well in most of Europe prison's aren't about punishment but more about getting them back into society and become functioning member's of society again.
In most american prison's prison rape is often expected to happen.

I wish I could disagree with you. I will keep wishing, and working in my society, for that day too come.

 

[Therumancer]

I'm conservative, and generally feel prisons should exist to punish and act as a deterrant as opposed to reform. We have things like "half way houses" and post-prison programs for that kind of thing once prisoners get out. I tend to feel someone who is going to fail there isn't going to be much helped by programs within the prison system itself. I also feel the more of these programs added and the more of a free hand and skill inmates are given the more difficult it is for the COs (Corrections Officers) to control and monitor.

As nice as it is to envision a system where these skills wil help a prisoner adapt better to the outside world, the bottom line is a tech savvy criminal is just going to be more dangerous, and inside, in the enviroment with a lot of other criminals, it simply gives these guys more time to brainstorm for things they think they can get away with using their newfound knowlege when they are released. The benefit to post-prison programs is that a guy who jumps into crime while learning there is more likely to screw up due to slowly developing the skills, as opposed to having had time to polish and plan before release. With all the crap going on via Twitter and stuff already, I actually find some comfort in the idea of a lot of inmates being ignorant of the entire thing, and not thinking of ways they can use it when they get out.


THAT said, I do see the arguements for reform and assimilation into society, I just feel it's not something that should be going on within the prison itself. I think those resources and effort should instead be fed into the halfway programs which are themselves overtaxed and always in need of effort. Put the effort into helping those who have been released so they have more options and will take time learning once they are out, rather than cramming these guys full of knowlege while they are in prison and learning under that mentality and in that enviroment. The enviroment in which you learn has a lot to do with it.

Of course then again I'm also a proponent of the entire "supercube" idea. That is to say, we change the humanitarian standards of prisons. We put every prisoner into their own personal 10' wide by 8' high cube with a fold down bed, toilet, sink, and a viewscreen on one wall controlled by a cabled remote control. You stick the prisoner in there naked, and the door basically does not open until their sentence is up. Food is slid through into the room a few times a day.

The idea here is that you put all the books, movies, etc... onto the screen from a prison library and let people keep themselves occupied that way, also allowing the prison to control what prisoners can see and experience. All communications happens via camera accross that screen with visitors, and there might be a prison chat room which can be monitored for "social contact". There is no release for exercise, which is a good thing because letting prisoners become stronger and tougher in prison is general a bad thing. No unsupervised communications means no planning. If some guy lights a fire in his sell somehow, or decides to smear feces everywhere, let him die, or hope he enjoys his own feces for however long his sentence is.

Such a situation probably has peopel going "OMG, inhumane, what do you mean no exercise or fresh air!" but honestly I feel it's no big deal since the idea is supposed to be to punish. Someone stuck in there for 10 years with nothing to watch but prison approved movies/TV/books/games or whatever probably won't be in a hurry to go back, and better yet we don't have to worry about prisoners raping and killing each other in the general population. Every prisoner is a solitary confinement prisoner!

When you consider my attitude, you can see where I'm not a big fan of yet another in-prison education initiative. My opinion is when a prisoner sees the sun again it should be a euphoric experience (like a prisoner leaving a dungeon of old) and the juxposition should make it so they will never, ever want to wind up back in that little 10' cube.

 

[spezz]

Great. I cant afford to pay to finish my education but now i'm paying for others to get their free degree.

I guess for the low low price of my anal virginity I can get a free education too eh?

 

[GiglameshSoulEater]

I wondered When america would learn something about how we handle prisons in europe.

How do you do it in Europe?

Well in most of Europe prison's aren't about punishment but more about getting them back into society and become functioning member's of society again.
In most american prison's prison rape is often expected to happen.

In the case of my nation, a bit too little focus of punishing and too much on a public-funded holiday.

Though yes, the prisons in America are festering pits of violence and damnation.

 

[Meight08]

I wondered When america would learn something about how we handle prisons in europe.

How do you do it in Europe?

Well in most of Europe prison's aren't about punishment but more about getting them back into society and become functioning member's of society again.
In most american prison's prison rape is often expected to happen.

In the case of my nation, a bit too little focus of punishing and too much on a public-funded holiday.

Though yes, the prisons in America are festering pits of violence and damnation.

Well norway the country with the least punishing prisons in the world has the lowest re offending rate.
Also we have been closing prisons in holland recently due to them falling into disuse

 

[GiglameshSoulEater]

I wondered When america would learn something about how we handle prisons in europe.

How do you do it in Europe?

Well in most of Europe prison's aren't about punishment but more about getting them back into society and become functioning member's of society again.
In most american prison's prison rape is often expected to happen.

In the case of my nation, a bit too little focus of punishing and too much on a public-funded holiday.

Though yes, the prisons in America are festering pits of violence and damnation.

Well norway the country with the least punishing prisons in the world has the lowest re offending rate.
Also we have been closing prisons in holland recently due to them falling into disuse

Well, we can ship the chavs over there and let the.. Hollandish...? sort them out, they obviously have the right idea. They can keep them, too, unless they turn out to be useful.

 

[JokerboyJordan]

Well norway the country with the least punishing prisons in the world has the lowest re offending rate.
Also we have been closing prisons in holland recently due to them falling into disuse

Well, we can ship the chavs over there and let the.. Hollandish...? sort them out, they obviously have the right idea. They can keep them, too, unless they turn out to be useful.

You mean the Dutch?
And yes, I agree, let them take all the chavs and make them speak proper English and how to behave in an appropriate manner.

snip

Whilst I can, in theory, see the reasoning in this, I don't think this would ever be right. Even if you counter-act the physical complications such conditions would impose, psychological issues are not so easy, and not being able to interact, and muscles atrohpying is not something anyone would want to deal with.
And treating criminals like they're in a battery farm is just not right.

 

[orangeban]

I hadn't considered the possible effects of falling behind the technology curve, that's an interesting one. It's true that a criminal who'd been in jail for a long time would be seriously confused about new developments. Very interesting.

And of course I do support this new initiative, I believe the key to stopping reoffending is to provide people with ways to live without crime. Too often do we just throw them out the system in the same state they went in, and then we act all horrified when they go back to crime.

My teacher described prisons as maximum security care homes, which is an good analogy I feel and we should start treating prisons more like that. Especially when you consider the high numbers of prisoners with abusive backgrounds, those coming from poverty and those who are mentally ill.

 

[orangeban]

Snip

Ignoring everything important in your argument, because I don't feel like getting into a big debate, why does the prisoner need to be naked in the cube? That seems unnecesarry, especially since they'll be talking to visitors, might want to have clothes on for that.

Ah, second thing, what happens if the prisoner gets ill?

 

[Quaxar]

First they get a concert by Johnny Cash himself, now they are getting taught how to become successful business-people. Plus probably no ex-wife anymore to share their profits with.
Man, these convicted criminals really got it all.

 

[Epona]

First they get a concert by Johnny Cash himself, now they are getting taught how to become successful business-people. Plus probably no ex-wife anymore to share their profits with.
Man, these convicted criminals really got it all.

They don't have freedom.