Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How I got here

pthorpe92.github.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 373 posts

Re: How I got here

#51

Post by k1ns »

otteromkram wrote: post #41
k1ns wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Prisons in the USA are for-profit enterprises that rely on a consistent population. They have no incentive to rehabilitate, in fact it's the opposite. What I don't understand is how a country with so many advantages like the USA could come up with arguably the worst prison system in the world. As a citizen, it's embarrassing that this is accepted by those in power as a good solution.

> As a citizen Of where? I, as a lawful citizen of the United States of America, am not embarrassed by the prison system. I am embarrassed, however, by folks who use hyperbole without merit to try and appease the masses without having the courage to go against the grain for fear of getting "downvoted" and losing faked internet points. The fact that you believe the USA has the worst prison system in the world, compare…

This has nothing to do with "fake internet points" and everything to do with firsthand experience that most citizens lack completely.

You chastise those that "appease the masses" but mention Venezuela's prison system. How much firsthand experience do you have with Venezuela's prison system? My wager is that your concept of their prison system is based on articles specifically designed to "appease the masses".

Re: How I got here

#52

Post by gavinray »

RecycledEle wrote: post #43

The apparent lack of opportunities for anyone is easy to solve with Dorm Room Welfare: Open free dorms next to the campuses of community colleges. Anyone who is physically able to live on their own, but who can not afford to live on their own can move in and live there as long as they are working towards being economically self sufficient. Working towards being economically self sufficient can mean passing academic c…

  > This does not solve the problem that many of us do not want to hire convicted criminals.
Thank you for at least acknowledging this.

I'd wager that if people with convictions on their record, had even a 10-20% chance of being hired at a decent establishment, we'd see recidivism go down by a statistically significant amount.

I know the justice system. The grand majority of folks coming in and out of prison genuinely do not want better for themselves, it's a lifestyle choice that they've accepted (or resigned themselves to, depending on how you look at it).

But for the fractional percentage of incarcerated individuals that DO decide "Okay, I've had enough, I'm done with this and I want better for myself" and mean it, they aren't afforded such a luxurious opportunity for a bland life in suburbia.

Re: How I got here

#53

Post by RecycledEle »

macintux wrote: post #2

I hate to quote so much of the post—it's well worth a read—but I think it's bookended by two very different experiences that convey so much about the U.S. prison system. > A few years later, I left prison with $0 in my pocket (lawyers and commissary are expensive, and nobody pays you what they owe you when you come in), to a rooming house with hallways that smelled like crack-smoke and were filled with parole officer…

[flagged]

Re: How I got here

#54

Post by wavemode »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #49
chroma wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was convicted of possessing 30 grams of carfentanil while on parole for his previous conviction. A lethal dose of carfentanil is 2mg, so it was at least 15,000 doses. 1. https://www.doj.nh.gov/news/2017/20171011-preston-thorpe-sen...

Did you mean 30 kilograms?

2 milligrams * 15000 = 30 grams

Re: How I got here

#55

Post by igor47 »

gavinray wrote: post #39
next_xibalba wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> He had his chances to be a productive, tax paying member of society and he blew it I love this thought that people in the US with felony convictions can just go out and be: "productive, tax paying member of society". I'll place a wager that if you called and ask them if they even HIRE felons, they'll tell you "No, as a matter of corporate policy." So, what then -- work for $10/hr so that you can barely make rent in…

1000x this. I only became a successful, productive member of society because a friend personally asked the CTO of a tech company to approve hiring me despite my computer crimes felony -- and the CTO took that chance. The company later went public for $B and now I am an angel investor and open source contributor etc, but I got lucky that I knew the right person at the right time. Our records follow us forever, and corporations/HR departments do not take risks like that.

Re: How I got here

#56

Post by freedomben »

bionsystem wrote: post #16
macintux wrote: post #2

I hate to quote so much of the post—it's well worth a read—but I think it's bookended by two very different experiences that convey so much about the U.S. prison system. > A few years later, I left prison with $0 in my pocket (lawyers and commissary are expensive, and nobody pays you what they owe you when you come in), to a rooming house with hallways that smelled like crack-smoke and were filled with parole officer…

> There are plenty more, like me, that are capable of being responsible, productive, tax paying members of society if given the opportunity, but you cannot expect anyone to change when you just lock them up in a cage with a bunch of other criminals where there is a subculture of endless negativity. Of course they expect inmates to change, but towards even more criminality, not towards rehabilitation. This will justif…

> Of course they expect inmates to change, but towards even more criminality, not towards rehabilitation.

Who is "they"?

Re: How I got here

#57

Post by [deleted] »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #49
chroma wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was convicted of possessing 30 grams of carfentanil while on parole for his previous conviction. A lethal dose of carfentanil is 2mg, so it was at least 15,000 doses. 1. https://www.doj.nh.gov/news/2017/20171011-preston-thorpe-sen...

Did you mean 30 kilograms?

[deleted]

Re: How I got here

#58

Post by dragonwriter »

k1ns wrote: post #4
macintux wrote: post #2

I hate to quote so much of the post—it's well worth a read—but I think it's bookended by two very different experiences that convey so much about the U.S. prison system. > A few years later, I left prison with $0 in my pocket (lawyers and commissary are expensive, and nobody pays you what they owe you when you come in), to a rooming house with hallways that smelled like crack-smoke and were filled with parole officer…

Prisons in the USA are for-profit enterprises that rely on a consistent population. They have no incentive to rehabilitate, in fact it's the opposite. What I don't understand is how a country with so many advantages like the USA could come up with arguably the worst prison system in the world. As a citizen, it's embarrassing that this is accepted by those in power as a good solution.

> Prisons in the USA are for-profit enterprises

About 7-8% of US jail and prisoners inmates are in for-profit correctional institutions, most are in public institutions which are not operated for profit.

Private, for profit prisons are an issue, but they are very much not the norm in the US.

Re: How I got here

#59

Post by frob »

gavinhoward wrote: post #13
dleslie wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are reasonable suggestions for organizations to support, at the bottom of the post.

Yes, though supporting an organization always feels like expecting someone else to do the hard work. I'd like to do more.

Recidiviz is hiring: https://angel.co/company/recidiviz/jobs

Re: How I got here

#60

Post by [deleted] »

Karellen wrote: post #44
oooyay wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Private prisons are problematic in their own right, but they only make up 8% of the total prison population at the state and federal level. imo, we (the citizens) are to blame for constantly championing a system of accountability that believes accountability is putting a man in a box and taking every future opportunity he doesn't know yet away from him. You can certainly blame those in power, and they share some blam…

> Private prisons are problematic in their own right, but they only make up 8% of the total prison population It's not how many people they are in charge of that matters, but how much money they donate to politicians to be be "tough on crime", and how much other soft money influence they have to make citizens think that crime is a problem that politicians need to be tough on, and to demonise politicians who aren't (w…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN