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Out of prison after 30 years and people telling him to find forms on the web

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Re: Out of prison after 30 years and people telling him to find forms on the web

#51

Post by elicash »

meddlepal wrote: post #27
davnn wrote: post #9

I can't imagine that prison life is so disconnected from the rest of society; it certainly isn't in Europe.

The US prison system is all about punishment not rehabilitation. Theres a very strong “lock them up and throw away the key” mentality in many Americans view of justice.

The US prison system is about indifference and more like factory farming than inflicting punishment -- the negative effects are mostly a byproduct of high volume and costs.

I got really into this issue maybe two years ago, and it's been pretty sickening to observe. Things like multiple states denying surgeries based on alleged "one good eye" policies. Replacing in-person visits with virtual ones.

Sure, there's profit involved, of course. For example, there are pushes to get rid of prison libraries and their books and music and switch instead to tablet devices, so that the families of incarcerated people (those in prison might be making as little as literal pennies per hour) can be charged subscriptions by various companies. But even that is driven by costs involved in checking donated books for contraband. At the end of the day, we need to incarcerate fewer people for shorter periods of time -- and I'm not just talking about non-violent offenders, either.

The person in this twitter thread served 30 years. Let's start there.

Re: Out of prison after 30 years and people telling him to find forms on the web

#52

Post by adamrt »

flohofwoe wrote: post #25
Farbklex wrote: post #7

In contrast, I am sure we all know some older people who were not in prisson for the past 30 years and still don't know how to write an email, what a zoom call is or when it's appropriate to double-click vs single click items on a computer. I know people in their 50s who pretend that "they don't need this technology" or "I can just go to the bank if I need something". Sure, if you're in your 80s you might want to dod…

I'm a software engineer yet I don't do online banking (I literally "just go to the bank if I need something"). I don't consider myself a "luddite", I just don't see the advantage over traditional "offline banking". Same with shopping and all the other little nuisances of daily life.

A few:

- being able to mange banking while traveling internationally (or to a state/province that does't have a branch)

- 30 second transfers between accounts (or to other banks)

- few minutes to open a new account

- see posted (and pending) charges within a day or two instead of a month (I regularly import for my budgeting software)

I'm a developer and actually do consider myself a little bit of a luddite. But online banking is helpful to me over traditional banking.

Re: Out of prison after 30 years and people telling him to find forms on the web

#54

Post by throwaway0a5e »

flohofwoe wrote: post #25
Farbklex wrote: post #7

In contrast, I am sure we all know some older people who were not in prisson for the past 30 years and still don't know how to write an email, what a zoom call is or when it's appropriate to double-click vs single click items on a computer. I know people in their 50s who pretend that "they don't need this technology" or "I can just go to the bank if I need something". Sure, if you're in your 80s you might want to dod…

I'm a software engineer yet I don't do online banking (I literally "just go to the bank if I need something"). I don't consider myself a "luddite", I just don't see the advantage over traditional "offline banking". Same with shopping and all the other little nuisances of daily life.

Some version of this meme[0] has been circulating since before memes were a thing. I remember the Public School IT guy cracking a joke about packing heat in case the copier tried something funny (which sets a lower bound for the age of this joke because you haven't been able to pack heat in a school in three decades and haven't been able to crack that joke in a school in two).

[0]https://i.imgur.com/6wbgy2L.jpeg

Re: Out of prison after 30 years and people telling him to find forms on the web

#55

Post by HenryBemis »

bitwize wrote: post #20
shishy wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt14173880/ i believe that one

That's the one.

Thank you

"Persona: The Dark Truth Behind Personality Tests (2021)"

Exploring the unexpected origins of America's obsession with personality testing, this documentary takes a look at the profound ways that ideas about personality have formed the world around us.

Re: Out of prison after 30 years and people telling him to find forms on the web

#56

Post by ddtaylor »

neartheplain wrote: post #3

My first thought is how the prison system failed him. Computer literacy is a fundamental job skill in the 21st century, one that's relatively easily and inexpensively taught. I'd expect computer literacy programs in any prison system built around rehabilitation.

While I was in federal prison (one year, just released months ago) I actually tried to setup a crash course that prepared inmates for the "real world" and teach basic skills. This is through a program in the federal prison system (BOP) called ACE - Adult Continuing Education.

I sat down and spoke with the manager of the program at the prison. She barely removed her eyes from her computer screen and when I was done proposing my idea she just shrugged and said "that's not something we want to invest time into." I then asked her if she thought these skills were more necessary today than yesterday and compared to 5 years ago - basically establishing that this is only going to get worse not better. She just repeated that "this isn't what the BOP wants to do."

It's worth mentioning what those ACE classes currently consist of. The ones I saw while I was in prison ranged from basic math/arithmetic (addition, multiplication, very basic algebra) to poetry and origami. Which is interesting because it would paint the picture that people in prison are dumb or not learning anything, whereas they actually are learning quite a lot since they have little else to occupy themselves with besides books - especially during COVID times (since we were essentially locked down the entire time during the pandemic while I was incarcerated)

I met many inmates that were learning complex math and physics, computer programming and I met some that had never seen the "real world" in any capacity with Bitcoin or other emerging technologies that had a decent grasp of how they operated from the various books they had read.

Re: Out of prison after 30 years and people telling him to find forms on the web

#57

Post by flohofwoe »

matz1 wrote: post #40
flohofwoe wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to interact with my bank maybe twice in a year, and rarely do I have to show up in person. Speaking over the phone works just fine ;) In contrast I have to show up at dentist or hairdresser appointments in person, and I don't consider this "wasted time" either.

how do you check your balance or transaction ? you only do that over the phone ?

I check the balance when I'm getting cash from an ATM. Transaction logs are sent by mail or I can print them at service machines. Really people, it's not that complicated, it worked before online banking was invented after all ;) I'm not sure if all those services (like the physical mail thing) are available to new customers though, I think those are nudged heavily to use an online account.

Re: Out of prison after 30 years and people telling him to find forms on the web

#58

Post by maxerickson »

deepstack wrote: post #42
flohofwoe wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a software engineer yet I don't do online banking (I literally "just go to the bank if I need something"). I don't consider myself a "luddite", I just don't see the advantage over traditional "offline banking". Same with shopping and all the other little nuisances of daily life.

Glad another software guy saying this. Digital infrastructure as how it now has no integrity. I prefer going to bank if I have time. Even the largest bank like Feds can have 3 trillion dollars operation error. https://thespeakernewsjournal.com/us/bank-wires-worth-trilli... Knowing what I know and the kind of security that is in online banking does not bring any confidence in me.

Why do you think the in person operations are less likely to make errors?

I mean, go ahead and do what you want, but if checking recent transactions makes sense for online banking, it probably makes sense for offline banking too.

Re: Out of prison after 30 years and people telling him to find forms on the web

#59

Post by ddtaylor »

whymauri wrote: post #36
neartheplain wrote: post #3

My first thought is how the prison system failed him. Computer literacy is a fundamental job skill in the 21st century, one that's relatively easily and inexpensively taught. I'd expect computer literacy programs in any prison system built around rehabilitation.

The US prison system did exactly what the US prison system is designed to do. It's never been a rehabilatory system and we will have to fight to improve it.

It's worth mentioning that this doesn't mean it's currently designed to be punitive. It's really just evolved into a system that extracts a very large amount of money via taxes and uses that money to pay various correctional staff and industries to deliver absurdly poor quality services and products. For them, it's a really sweet gig and they're pretty happy that the overall public is apathetic to the situation.

Re: Out of prison after 30 years and people telling him to find forms on the web

#60

Post by [deleted] »

ballenf wrote: post #48

Unpopular opinion: I think government services and offices should remain offline-first forever. They should offer online equivalents, but they should never assume or require digital adoption. I think this has two big benefits: - Minor point: Greater resilience to downtime, interruptions to service - Major point: a check on becoming a faceless entity with no exposure to the public. Think Google or FB if you get flagge…

[deleted]
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