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What is it like to be a geek in a prison?

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Re: What is it like to be a geek in a prison?

#161

Post by mst »

onetimeonly wrote: post #157
gngeal wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many, many people in jail were severely mentally ill. There was no support for them. So UK is getting as bad as the US? Or has it never been good over there? Given how mental health conditions and incarcerations (for whatever reason) go hand in hand, I'd expect any sane society to tackle the former even more ferociously than the latter.

Ever since the mental health institutions were mostly shut down in the 1970s and 80s, and the focus for treatment of criminals with mental health problems became "care in the community", the UK prison system has become a dumping ground for mentally unwell people. See http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/themes/menalhe... .

Plus the Probation Service's mandate to be a rehabilitation system has been almost entirely dismantled; compartmentalisation of tasks meant that offenders don't have the same level of single point of contact as they used to and a lot of the older (largely male in that generation) probation officers took early retirement, to be replaced by young women who've been taught that the job is paperwork-with-a-bit-of-face-time. The final death knell of the old school was the merging of the Probation and Prison services into a Prison Service run organisation called the National Offender Management Service, which I suspect has made the changes irreversable (even if they weren't at all).

Note that my father was among the people who took early retirement in disgust at the way things are going, so my views are almost certainly coloured by that.

Re: What is it like to be a geek in a prison?

#162

Post by aquadrop »

mjolk wrote: post #123
johnjay wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree 100% with you. The best response is always to call the authorities. I really don't see the benefit of going toe to toe with a criminal. Also, I'm shocked by the responses you are getting telling you that you are wrong. Do people really want to confront a criminal. I grew up in a ghetto in Brooklyn, NY, I'm Hispanic, and my family always calls the police. Getting into an argument directly with someone has too…

Yeah, I don't understand most of the responses. I hope that the responses are either from people that: a) Don't think that he's saying "here's advice for life" (and if they do, don't realize that this is advice for how to respond to crimes against you) b) Are scoping his advice to "while in prison, and because you're stuck there with violent morons anyway, don't make yourself a target" c) Are out of their depth and/o…

I completely agree with you. In jail, if you're not a mafia boss, your prime target is to get out safely asap. That may be advice to live by while you're in prison with "violent morons" because they made that rule. That's the rule of "violent morons". Not a very good source of rules, I think.

Re: What is it like to be a geek in a prison?

#163

Post by innertracks »

onetimeonly wrote: post #103

I'm a hacker who served 4.5 months of a 9 month sentence 5 years ago. I was in two jails in that time, spending the majority of the time in the second, lower security place. The experience totally changed me, but in a positive way. First of all, I actually had a lot of fun in jail. My education made certain aspects of the prison system very easy for me to navigate, such as legal documentation and debating with guards…

Thank you for sharing your experiences. Incredible, thought provoking, and inspiring in how and what you learned from those experiences.

Re: What is it like to be a geek in a prison?

#164

Post by jtheory »

nabnob wrote: post #154
jsmthrowaway wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also, the stigma of having a criminal record sticks to you forever. Even now, in my middle 30's, it's nearly impossible for me to get a tech job even though my felonious history was from when I was a teenager. You pretty much have to resign yourself to the fact that you'll work at 50% of the salary as your peers or have to make your own future by starting your own companies and projects. You do not have to resign y…

Could I possibly email you for advice? I have a friend in a similar situation and I'm trying to help him find a job in Seattle. Edit: My email is [my username] AT gmail.com

You're replying to a throwaway account, so I doubt the poster is going to put an email address on it.

Make yourself contactable instead (e.g., an email or something similar in your profile text), and cross your fingers.

Re: What is it like to be a geek in a prison?

#165

Post by swalkergibson »

moron4hire wrote: post #148
swalkergibson wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is truly amazing how fucked up our system is. If they actually believed you "deserved" 99 years, then bargaining down to 6 months suggests that all they really care about is artificially inflating and maintaining their "conviction" rate and not actually, you know, justice or something. Thank you for sharing your experiences, I rarely get the opportunity to discuss things like this. Best of luck to you going forwar…

That's the maximum possible sentence that can be applied in any circumstance, but it would not have been possible for him to get it. There is a table for each class of crime that cross references the severity of the crime, the number of crimes committed by the person before, and a very small plus or minus factor for how much the judge likes or dislikes you. As a first-time offender, he would have only been eligible f…

You are correct, that is the maximum.

Here is the minimum for Aggravated Robbery (a first degree felony):

"Sec. 12.32. FIRST DEGREE FELONY PUNISHMENT. (a) An individual adjudged guilty of a felony of the first degree shall be punished by imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for life or for any term of not more than 99 years or less than 5 years. (b) In addition to imprisonment, an individual adjudged guilty of a felony of the first degree may be punished by a fine not to exceed $10,000.

Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Renumbered from Penal Code Sec. 12.31 by Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 1124, ch. 426, art. 2, Sec. 2, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Amended by Acts 1979, 66th Leg., p. 1058, ch. 488, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1979; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994. Amended by: Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 87, Sec. 25.146, eff. September 1, 2009."

I don't know about you, but 5 years seems like a pretty ridiculous risk if 6 months was on the table. That is their game. Prosecutors do not like to go to trial because juries are unpredictable. However, they have the overwhelmingly stronger bargaining position of being able to lock you up and throw away the key.

http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/PE/htm/PE.12.htm

Re: What is it like to be a geek in a prison?

#166

Post by jtheory »

Raphmedia wrote: post #160
S4M wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess the rules of the prison impose the inmates to keep their hands behind their back in front of the wardens.

It's kind of weird, you would expect a requirement of having your hands in display at all time.

Ah, but they are -- they're on display to a person standing behind you, out of your field of vision (and thus with yet another advantage).

Re: What is it like to be a geek in a prison?

#167

Post by robflynn »

bennyg wrote: post #145
robflynn wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. I know someone who received a ticket for a broken tail light. He forgot to pay it and ended up going to jail for 8 months! 8 months! For a broken tail light! I would have expected an additional penalty or at most a week in jail, which even then I would consider that extreme.

Was that 8 month sentence with a lawyer?

I will add that the lesson that I learned from that is always get a lawyer, no matter how small the crime.

Re: What is it like to be a geek in a prison?

#168

Post by clamprecht »

deftnerd wrote: post #131
clamprecht wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You pretty much have to resign yourself to the fact that you'll work at 50% of the salary as your peers or have to make your own future by starting your own companies and projects. Fuck that. If you're going to resign yourself to something, resign yourself to the fact that you will have to work 150% as hard as your peers to make as much money. I know this is saying almost the same thing, but it's saying it in a mor…

I appreciate your insight, but I have a family now and it wouldn't be fair of them for me to put 150% effort into my work life just to try to earn just as much as someone else who works 100%. I would rather work for less money as long as I spend time with the people I love.

Fair enough

Re: What is it like to be a geek in a prison?

#169

Post by Havoc »

deftnerd wrote: post #119
Havoc wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind explaining the part about hands behind your back?

The kind of facility I was in was more of a place to warehouse prisoners. They housed 50 people in bunk beds in each warehouse room with no air conditioning. When we moved from the dorm to (for instance) the cafeteria, there were some required rules for the safety of the employees. All the inmates had to be 3 feet from each other, hands clasped behind their backs, looking down. A lot of it was purely for psychologica…

Sounds pretty harsh all round. I'm assuming this is in the US, correct?

Re: What is it like to be a geek in a prison?

#170

Post by onetimeonly »

seandhi wrote: post #133
onetimeonly wrote: post #103

I'm a hacker who served 4.5 months of a 9 month sentence 5 years ago. I was in two jails in that time, spending the majority of the time in the second, lower security place. The experience totally changed me, but in a positive way. First of all, I actually had a lot of fun in jail. My education made certain aspects of the prison system very easy for me to navigate, such as legal documentation and debating with guards…

> I no longer have to legally disclose it I could be wrong, but my understanding is that this is not a "luxury" that we enjoy in the U.S. Once you have a conviction, it is there forever. So much for doing your time and paying your debt to society. I really hope I am wrong about this, but I fear that I am not.

It's worth noting that in the UK, convictions become 'spent' (so that you don't have to disclose them when asked) after a certain period of time that varies with the severity of the original sentence. But for some crimes (>48 months in prison) they never become spent. And for some jobs, the 'spent' status does not apply. Those include working with children, joining the police or security services, and a variety of other things.
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