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Program teaches prisoners coding so they can land tech jobs once released

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Re: Program teaches prisoners coding so they can land tech jobs once released

#31

Post by BeetleB »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #4
JoeyBananas wrote: post #2

> The Last Mile’s program is defying the country’s 83 percent recidivism rate. In its 10 years existence, there has been zero recidivism amongst it’s nearly 100 graduates, graduates that include Jason Jones. Those numbers tell you everything you need to know. They're not "solving mass incarceration" any time soon.

>the country’s 83 percent recidivism rate Holy shizz, that's a lot. It's as if US laws and prisons aren't there to rehabilitate an individual but to turn him against society for good, making him a returning "customer" so that certain interest groups can keep profiting. But that's just probably my imagination running wild.

Monday's segment of Marketplace is worth listening to.

The gist of it was that in many (all?) places in the US, a landlord can be sued if they rent to someone who has a criminal record who then went on commit another crime. As a result, few landlords will rent to them. I hang out on real estate forums and have never met anyone who would rent to someone with a criminal record.

Getting a job is a whole other problem.

That's just one example of the challenges they face.

https://www.marketplace.org/2021/02/01/the-afterlife-of-mass...

I can't find it right now, but there's also a TED talk by a former state official (state senator?) who committed a crime and spent a very brief time in prison. It was eye opening to him how he was denied pretty much everything once he got out, and only through his connections was he able to get employment.

Couple that with the fact that the US is the country that imprisons the highest proportion of its own citizens, and it's terrifying.

Re: Program teaches prisoners coding so they can land tech jobs once released

#33

Post by [deleted] »

xiphias2 wrote: post #25
Guest42 wrote: post #11

Entry level tech jobs are remarkably scarce and difficult to obtain/maintain. Even with a masters and experience it takes 100+ applications. Most companies don’t hire programmers and the ones that do often contract it out overseas. I know there are caveats and counter-anecdotes but this has been my set of observations over the last 10 years.

It's because the 10x engineer is real: many people learn coding just for earning money, not like 20 years ago when most people did it out of passion. This means that there are more people that can't provide enough business value to be justified in a tech company. At the same time they can use their coding skills to make non-tech office jobs more automated.

[deleted]

Re: Program teaches prisoners coding so they can land tech jobs once released

#35

Post by haram_masala »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #5
JoeyBananas wrote: post #2

> The Last Mile’s program is defying the country’s 83 percent recidivism rate. In its 10 years existence, there has been zero recidivism amongst it’s nearly 100 graduates, graduates that include Jason Jones. Those numbers tell you everything you need to know. They're not "solving mass incarceration" any time soon.

Quite possibly they are educating people out of the 17% that would not be re-offenders. However, is is bloody obvious that if a person cant survive/earn money legally, they will do so illegally - so the system of 'justice' is just an offence to the senses cause it causes more crime.

To quote Thomas Frank, we have created a system that offers most people two choices: “toil without hope, or go to jail.”

Re: Program teaches prisoners coding so they can land tech jobs once released

#36

Post by whimsicalism »

sokoloff wrote: post #28
Guest42 wrote: post #11

Entry level tech jobs are remarkably scarce and difficult to obtain/maintain. Even with a masters and experience it takes 100+ applications. Most companies don’t hire programmers and the ones that do often contract it out overseas. I know there are caveats and counter-anecdotes but this has been my set of observations over the last 10 years.

When I look over the interview and coding exercise results from entry-level applicants, I can understand how some of the candidates will apply and interview a lot before landing a role. There’s a pretty sharp clustering into “can very likely code” and “did not demonstrate they could productively code”.

For many entry level tech jobs today, I think you'll find the bar is considerably higher.

Re: Program teaches prisoners coding so they can land tech jobs once released

#37

Post by adamc »

lldbg wrote: post #12
underseacables wrote: post #6

In 2011-2014 I taught English and mathematics as a volunteer in a prison, and unless you’ve been there, nothing can prepare you for how truly awful America’s prison system is. The federal system is a little better, but when you get down to state prisons it gets exponentially worse. In my humble opinion, we have a vengeance and retribution mentality towards prisons in this country, when we should have a rehabilitation…

I think that retribution, which is of course the principal component of justice, is a key part of prisons. Somewhere the scales must be balanced, and if not in prisons, where then? Should the assaulted be happy with the fact that the inmate will get a job? That is not to say that prisons should be blind to the fact that inmates will eventually be released. There are plenty of people who have committed no crime, but g…

I am interested in whether there is any actual evidence retribution works, in terms of recidivism. My first guess would be that the awful experiences in prison just fuck up people more.

Re: Program teaches prisoners coding so they can land tech jobs once released

#38

Post by ericd »

lldbg wrote: post #12
underseacables wrote: post #6

In 2011-2014 I taught English and mathematics as a volunteer in a prison, and unless you’ve been there, nothing can prepare you for how truly awful America’s prison system is. The federal system is a little better, but when you get down to state prisons it gets exponentially worse. In my humble opinion, we have a vengeance and retribution mentality towards prisons in this country, when we should have a rehabilitation…

I think that retribution, which is of course the principal component of justice, is a key part of prisons. Somewhere the scales must be balanced, and if not in prisons, where then? Should the assaulted be happy with the fact that the inmate will get a job? That is not to say that prisons should be blind to the fact that inmates will eventually be released. There are plenty of people who have committed no crime, but g…

Some people think it's to get them to stop doing bad things to other people, not to get even.

Re: Program teaches prisoners coding so they can land tech jobs once released

#39

Post by UncleMeat »

lldbg wrote: post #12
underseacables wrote: post #6

In 2011-2014 I taught English and mathematics as a volunteer in a prison, and unless you’ve been there, nothing can prepare you for how truly awful America’s prison system is. The federal system is a little better, but when you get down to state prisons it gets exponentially worse. In my humble opinion, we have a vengeance and retribution mentality towards prisons in this country, when we should have a rehabilitation…

I think that retribution, which is of course the principal component of justice, is a key part of prisons. Somewhere the scales must be balanced, and if not in prisons, where then? Should the assaulted be happy with the fact that the inmate will get a job? That is not to say that prisons should be blind to the fact that inmates will eventually be released. There are plenty of people who have committed no crime, but g…

> I think that retribution, which is of course the principal component of justice, is a key part of prisons.

One of the arguments that Foucault makes in Discipline and Punish is that prisons, by virtue of hiding the retribution from public view, can perform nearly arbitrarily heinous retributions on people. When we tore people apart in the street as punishment it was public and could provoke outrage. Now basically nobody knows what happens inside prisons.

Re: Program teaches prisoners coding so they can land tech jobs once released

#40

Post by Layke1123 »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #30
lldbg wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that retribution, which is of course the principal component of justice, is a key part of prisons. Somewhere the scales must be balanced, and if not in prisons, where then? Should the assaulted be happy with the fact that the inmate will get a job? That is not to say that prisons should be blind to the fact that inmates will eventually be released. There are plenty of people who have committed no crime, but g…

>Should the assaulted be happy with the fact that the inmate will get a job? It was not until now that I came to realize that everyone in American prisons are actually there for assault. The mind reels.

I upvoted you, but I want to make sure my reasons for doing so are accurate. This was sarcasm, yes? It might not be so obvious if others read through this so just want to clarify.
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