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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

#241

Post by kyooyk »

soneil wrote: post #171
trymas wrote: post #18

Clearly wherever this is (US?) prisons are not about rehabilitation and inclusion back into society. Weren't there any classes? Books? Library? Computer rooms? It's complete failure of a justice system if person comes out of prison like from a time capsule. IMHO it may just increase recidivism - what can a person do in a "free" world if he/she were not let to know about the world outside prison walls?

I'm less convinced it's a failure of the system, but more an expectation of the system. Just look at the replies on the twitter post. They amount to "shouldn't have done the crime then". Get raped/attacked in prison? Whoops, shouldn't have done the crime then. Released unprepared and institutionalized after 3 decades in prison? Whoops, shouldn't have done the crime then. I strongly suspect there's a lot less interest…

There’s a lack of addressing mental health issues inside. There’s a lack of people thinking about what some people have dealt with since children and why they ended up inside. People wonder why there is recidivism or why people end up in jail. A lot of it has to do with the lack of opportunity and mentorship in peoples lives starting with childhood...and then especially after turbulent times, never introducing itself ever to these individuals. It’s not like people want to end up like this. For many of these individuals they’ve never had the support and opportunities many of us don’t realize we’re so lucky to have.

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

#242

Post by [deleted] »

Toutouxc wrote: post #21

While I agree that this is a huge failure of the prison system, I'm also convinced that it shouldn't take more than a month for an ex-convict to catch up with the average computer user. Most people I know are borderline computer illiterate. Even the educated ones.

[deleted]

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

#243

Post by mike00632 »

anonymousiam wrote: post #225
kyooyk wrote: post #113

I really think the point is not how long it might take someone to learn how to use tools, but the impacts of prison. I work with these folks through my company to help them become employed upon release. A few things, it is astounding but believable that when people are released they enter a world that is entirely unknown to them. Not only technology but their relationships and neighborhoods are completely different.…

I've never served time, but from what I understand, the burdens associated with being on parole (check ins, drug tests, danger of associating with the wrong people, etc.) are so onerous that many prefer to serve the full sentence so that when they get out, they are not on parole. I would probably make the same choice.

I learned only recently that people on parole have to pay for parole. All of the mandatory meetings and drugs tests are paid by the parolee. What happens if they can't pay?-- back to prison. It's brutal.

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

#244

Post by [deleted] »

neurostimulant wrote: post #96
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.

If the goal for the prison system is to rehabilitate the inmates, then indeed it failed him. But if the goal of the prison system is to punish the inmates, then it has achieved its goal and even continue to punish him long after he served his time.

[deleted]

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

#247

Post by jbay808 »

alibarber wrote: post #240
jbay808 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Landing in another country is one of the scenarios where you're most likely to be unable to access telecommunications. For example, you find your internet provider doesn't work internationally, you can't enable roaming without visiting their website, your phone isn't compatible with the local spectrum, your credit card gets fraud-flagged when you try to buy a local sim card because you forgot to tell Visa you'd be tr…

Yes that is unfortunate - but all out of the remit of what an embassy will help you with. Maybe if things have gone so wrong for you that you throw loosing your passport into the mix, or being physically detained by the police in the host nation then perhaps they'll help out. But, at least for my own country, they're definitely not there to help you with connectivity issues.

Yeah of course they're not. My post is about not being able to contact an embassy (or any other critical service) that offers only a web interface, when you have embassy-relevant business to discuss. It happens that the very time when you most might need the service of an embassy coincides with times when you are least likely to be able to access the internet: freshly arriving on foreign soil. The post is not about expecting the embassy to fix your internet connection, just to anticipate your lack of it.

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

#248

Post by MonkeyClub »

kyooyk wrote: post #113

I really think the point is not how long it might take someone to learn how to use tools, but the impacts of prison. I work with these folks through my company to help them become employed upon release. A few things, it is astounding but believable that when people are released they enter a world that is entirely unknown to them. Not only technology but their relationships and neighborhoods are completely different.…

> justice involved individuals

Is that PC for "ex cons"?

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

#249

Post by psychlops »

pessimizer wrote: post #204
psychlops wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I don't disagree (i was joking in my first comment :), I think that's a one dimensional point of view. The majority of people do not interact with the prison system at all and assume that everything is done correctly (if they consider it at all). I don't think there is a concerted conscious profiteering effort and it's just "Tuesday" business for municipalities and contracted corps. I'd contend more that the em…

> I'd contend more that the emotional appeals for tough on crime laws and media crime porn drive the mentality of imprisonment in the US. But those are produced by people who profit from the system as it is. People didn't just arrive at the cruelty level they are at, they were whipped to it, and countervailing opinions are shut out of "serious" discourse. Note that I'm not talking about private prisons here, I'm talk…

Indeed, and thank you for not wailing against private prisons only. Dealing with the system in any capacity one realizes that it is closed, deaf and completely lacking in accountability.

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

#250

Post by bryanrasmussen »

dayofthedaleks wrote: post #98
bryanrasmussen wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember that one of Spider Robinson's Callahan's crosstime saloon stories ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callahan%27s_Crosstime_Saloon ) had a similar situation with a guy getting back from being a prisoner of war or in prison in solitary for a couple of decades and being in effect a stranded time traveler (somewhat fuzzy on the details as I read it probably about 40 years ago - ironically enough) I also recall t…

Somebody please identify this story!

I'm pretty sure it's just called The Time Traveler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callahan%27s_Crosstime_Saloon#...

it says almost all these stories were published in Analog, that's where I remember the controversy over its lack of the more fanciful sort of time travel fans back then were used to took place.

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