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Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

themarshallproject.org

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Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#11

Post by woodruffw »

anotherhue wrote: post #4

Is there a reason, other than capitalism/entrenched interests, that the prison service doesn't have its own in house software? A non profit could perhaps assist.

For one, there isn't a single "prison service" in the US. There are somewhere between 51 and several thousand prison and jail systems, depending on how you count.

Profit extraction is one reason, and a large one. However, an equally large one is cruelty: these systems are designed to make prisoners suffer, and public accountability runs counter to that goal.

Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#12

Post by whitemary »

caditinpiscinam wrote: post #8

The system is working as intended. I've seen a lot of talk recently about crime and calls for various people to be imprisoned; everyone from carjackers to right-wing vigilantes. In the midst of these conversations, please remember: prisons exist to torture prisoners. Excerpts from another recent Marshall project article: > An officer who broke his baton hitting a prisoner 35 times, even after the man was handcuffed,…

> The system is working as intended.

Wrong. The intentions of the ruling class are not to oppress others but merely to protect their own interests, which is a far more difficult matter to confront.

The fundamental basis of capitalism, being the state's violent protection of the right to accumulate capital, defines the predominant motives of oppression. Members of the ruling class have little choice but to expand their personal power and control, lest they lose it all. This tendency alone results in the private prison industrial complex and erodes citizen rights.

Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#13

Post by yyyk »

anotherhue wrote: post #4

Is there a reason, other than capitalism/entrenched interests, that the prison service doesn't have its own in house software? A non profit could perhaps assist.

At which point the prison service will be responsible for bugs/unimplemented features/support. Often, simply offloading responsibility is worth a lot bureaucratically even if features would be technically identical.

Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#15

Post by whitemary »

freedomben wrote: post #10
anotherhue wrote: post #4

Is there a reason, other than capitalism/entrenched interests, that the prison service doesn't have its own in house software? A non profit could perhaps assist.

I'm glad you asked. I work for a non-profit called Ameelio (ameelio.org) that is working on that. We started with free incoming (to the facility) mail (aka letters) and expanded to free video and voice calling, and are currently working on expanding further though I don't want to say exactly what at this point. To answer your question though, yes entrenched interests and lack of competition. When you are sole provide…

so-called "non-profit"

Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#16

Post by vinaypai »

anotherhue wrote: post #4

Is there a reason, other than capitalism/entrenched interests, that the prison service doesn't have its own in house software? A non profit could perhaps assist.

The root cause is that a huge portion of the US population sees prisons entirely from a punitive point of view. Want to reduce prison sentences? Improve conditions? You're soft on crime!

Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#17

Post by bee_rider »

anotherhue wrote: post #4

Is there a reason, other than capitalism/entrenched interests, that the prison service doesn't have its own in house software? A non profit could perhaps assist.

I don’t understand why they can’t use, like, Word or notepad and just pass around text files or something like that.

I mean, most of the people involved in the prison system have decided to work in a place where the users aren’t there willingly or able to change service providers, so I guess they would trend toward minimal competence, right? The more they can leverage software written by anybody else, the better, I guess.

Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#18

Post by telotortium »

the_af wrote: post #5

This particular inmate has more posts in that site. This one discusses a cancer scare for which he didn't pursue an examination because of the degrading way they treat inmates with medical conditions in prison: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/01/28/i-m-having-a-c... His last post is from July 2022. I wonder if he is still alive.

Seems to be. Parole date is 2030, and he's only 38 years old: https://mdocweb.state.mi.us/OTIS2/otis2profile.aspx?mdocNumb...

In for second degree murder.

Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#19

Post by paulcole »

whitemary wrote: post #12
caditinpiscinam wrote: post #8

The system is working as intended. I've seen a lot of talk recently about crime and calls for various people to be imprisoned; everyone from carjackers to right-wing vigilantes. In the midst of these conversations, please remember: prisons exist to torture prisoners. Excerpts from another recent Marshall project article: > An officer who broke his baton hitting a prisoner 35 times, even after the man was handcuffed,…

> The system is working as intended. Wrong. The intentions of the ruling class are not to oppress others but merely to protect their own interests, which is a far more difficult matter to confront. The fundamental basis of capitalism, being the state's violent protection of the right to accumulate capital, defines the predominant motives of oppression. Members of the ruling class have little choice but to expand thei…

> This tendency alone results in the private prison industrial complex and erodes citizen rights.

So what you're saying is that the system is working as intended?

Re: Writing Is My Main Freedom. One Day My Work Disappeared (2021)

#20

Post by wahnfrieden »

woodruffw wrote: post #11
anotherhue wrote: post #4

Is there a reason, other than capitalism/entrenched interests, that the prison service doesn't have its own in house software? A non profit could perhaps assist.

For one, there isn't a single "prison service" in the US. There are somewhere between 51 and several thousand prison and jail systems, depending on how you count. Profit extraction is one reason, and a large one. However, an equally large one is cruelty : these systems are designed to make prisoners suffer, and public accountability runs counter to that goal.

jails are also used to force plea deals. see torture island aka rikers
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