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Investigation finds inmates built computers and hid them in prison ceiling

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Re: Investigation finds inmates built computers and hid them in prison ceiling

#41
post #32
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People have gone to the prison in the past solely because of the color of their skin or because of their religion. People today go to prison just for possessing a plant or criticizing their head of state. Let's not pretend that being in prison is anything other than a moral judgement rather than an indication of someone's character. It just makes it easier to dehumanize prisoners ("they deserve it") and harder for th…

> Let's not pretend that being in prison is anything other than a moral judgement rather than an indication of someone's character. There's.. a lot of bad people in prison, and for good reason -they've done empirically terrible things, and many without remorse - no matter the "POV"

> empirically terrible things

Sorry but there's no such thing. Justice is relative. In many countries you can be considered justified in murder while simply kissing a person of the same sex or protesting can make you be locked up. In fact, If you want to argue that killing someone is empirically terrible, people avoid jail for it all the time if they're on the winning side of a war, in self-defense (in many countries even for defending their honor), or if they're of a high enough status (rich people and cops/politicians). Assuming that only bad people go to jail is naive and assuming jails are only full of bad people is generalizing.

Re: Investigation finds inmates built computers and hid them in prison ceiling

#42
post #18

> The inmates were able to get the parts from a program where inmates break down computers in order to learn computer skills and recycle the parts. It appears the program provided an effective education.

Right. You can learn a lot of Javascript by breaking up old computers. This isn't an "education", its just slave labour.

????

Computer skills are not only JavaScript.

Re: Investigation finds inmates built computers and hid them in prison ceiling

#43
post #18

> The inmates were able to get the parts from a program where inmates break down computers in order to learn computer skills and recycle the parts. It appears the program provided an effective education.

Right. You can learn a lot of Javascript by breaking up old computers. This isn't an "education", its just slave labour.

I think if the program is opt-in, that a lot of the inmates could appreciate such a program.

I know if I was in jail I'd like to partake in such a program, I could use more hands-on skills with electronics, and recycling is always a good cause :)

Some jail programs can be really good, like the program for helping inmates adopt and care for a rescue dog. There was also a program at a jail here for repairing and donating broken toys.

I think these kinds of wholesome efforts are very important to look for and support.

Re: Investigation finds inmates built computers and hid them in prison ceiling

#44
post #18

> The inmates were able to get the parts from a program where inmates break down computers in order to learn computer skills and recycle the parts. It appears the program provided an effective education.

Right. You can learn a lot of Javascript by breaking up old computers. This isn't an "education", its just slave labour.

What's a more likely job for a former inmate: Computer repair technician (rip out broken parts, put new parts in) or Javascript frontend engineer?

Re: Investigation finds inmates built computers and hid them in prison ceiling

#45
post #17
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People have gone to the prison in the past solely because of the color of their skin or because of their religion. People today go to prison just for possessing a plant or criticizing their head of state. Let's not pretend that being in prison is anything other than a moral judgement rather than an indication of someone's character. It just makes it easier to dehumanize prisoners ("they deserve it") and harder for th…

We need a program allowing prisoners to serve their sentence as home arrest at foster homes of volunteers to isolate them from their pathological upbringing and socialize them with law-abiding citizenry. To eliminate possibility of unjust moral judgments and discrimination, obviously the inmates would get to choose their hosts and not the other way around. I'm sure you would be happy to participate. Problem solved.

Ah the good ol' tired "why don't you take refugees into your own home" argument. Why would I need to host them when I don't need to host a jail? The same thing with orphans and refugees. The government provides space for them paid for with my taxes. I don't invite every homeless person I see into my home permanently, doesn't mean I don't care about them or believe the government should combat the issue or open more shelters. Trying to put the onus on me saying "why don't you do it if you care so much" is just lazy deflection from the actual issue and a sad attempt of absolving anyone else of responsibility.

Anyway, you invented a whole solution which had nothing at all to do with what I said; I never advocated against jails or anything to the effect, please improve your reading comprehension and construct better strawmen to sidetrack me with.

Re: Investigation finds inmates built computers and hid them in prison ceiling

#46
post #4

Here's hoping they didn't smuggle a full size ATX motherboard through the facility using the 'old fashioned' prison method. Or even a 3.5" SATA hard drive...

The prison transportation infrastructure vastly subsidizes Arduino Minis for this reason.

I'd say the Pi Zero is a far superior option. Vastly more computing power with only minimal additional pain.

Bonus points if you hook it up to a battery and SSH into it during transit. Probably not the best idea to have something inside of you that occasionally catches fire, though.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/pi-zero/

Re: Investigation finds inmates built computers and hid them in prison ceiling

#47
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. You can learn a lot of Javascript by breaking up old computers. This isn't an "education", its just slave labour.

What's a more likely job for a former inmate: Computer repair technician (rip out broken parts, put new parts in) or Javascript frontend engineer?

To be honest I think tech companies, startups especially will happily hire a good ex-con coder because they don't have to pay them as much.

Re: Investigation finds inmates built computers and hid them in prison ceiling

#48
post #18

> The inmates were able to get the parts from a program where inmates break down computers in order to learn computer skills and recycle the parts. It appears the program provided an effective education.

Right. You can learn a lot of Javascript by breaking up old computers. This isn't an "education", its just slave labour.

Which, indeed, is legal in the US.

" Amendment XIII Section 1.

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. "

Re: Investigation finds inmates built computers and hid them in prison ceiling

#49
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. You can learn a lot of Javascript by breaking up old computers. This isn't an "education", its just slave labour.

???? Computer skills are not only JavaScript.

Did you not read the Electron thread?

Re: Investigation finds inmates built computers and hid them in prison ceiling

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When they checked the login being used, they discovered an employee's credentials were being used on days he wasn't scheduled to work.

That's what happens when you don't have layered security. MAC address whitelisting, crytographic hardware tokens, 2fa, etc all would have stopped it dead in its tracks, but someone decided a login screen would be "enough".

Yes, but it's easy to find effective countermeasures after the fact.
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