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How I got here

pthorpe92.github.io

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Re: How I got here

#121

Post by imtringued »

RecycledEle wrote: post #62
gavinray wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

[flagged]

This might sound like an obvious solution for repeat criminals, but this would start an arms race between police and criminals, who have nothing to lose.

It's as if people don't understand how deterrence actually works and instead go with a simplistic "the tougher the punishment, the better".

Re: How I got here

#122

Post by [deleted] »

kelnos wrote: post #32
gavinhoward wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Have you considered writing to some of these organizations and asking them if you can volunteer your time?

[deleted]

Re: How I got here

#123

Post by jotaen »

sctb wrote: post #50
cvz wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's not asking for sympathy. The entire article is about how he ended up where he is now, how the prison he's at now has saved him from a life of crime by giving him a meaningful chance at a career, that this is an anomaly, and that it shouldn't be.

I'm wondering if one of the factors here is that the public is funding this opportunity, and that many, many non-criminal members of that public are doing the $10.50/h thing with no such support and very limited opportunity.

If I were to choose between (a) getting such a funding/opportunity but having to spend 10 years in jail to qualify for it, or (b) not getting this funding and staying free, I’d certainly pick (b), even if my only alternative was a minimum wage job.

I’d also argue that the reason for the public to fund such opportunities is not primarily an act of humanity, but it’s rather a long-term “investment” into lowering overall recidivism rates. That being said, one way to look at it is that the public is not funding him, but it’s funding its own interests.

Re: How I got here

#124

Post by _dark_matter_ »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #108

TFA is interesting but I've got a problem with this: > I was left with the difficult choice of either living there and walking to a temp agency with hopes of making $10.50/hour doing manual labor (without an ID or social security card at this point), or getting on a bus to NYC to see some associates, and coming back in a week or so with $15-25k in my pocket and living in comfy luxury hotels until I could rent an apar…

Asking newly-release prisoners to have the absolute strongest constitution and pain endurance is also not obvious to me. The average person would struggle in this situation, and we expect formerly-incarcerate individuals to be even stronger than them?

It doesn't offend me at all to see it highlighted as "obvious" to the author. For some high proportion of these individuals, it is obvious (and indeed seems like the only choice).

Re: How I got here

#125

Post by Kye »

ulizzle wrote: post #110
JessicaHicklin wrote: post #94

Whatever people are incarcerated for, the fact of the matter is that 95% of the people currently incarcerated in the US will one day live next door to one or more of us. Isn't it better to prepare them to live there, self-sufficent and contributing to society? (Disclosure: I am the Cofounder of Unlocked Labs, Preston's current employer and formerly incarcerated myself). I can say without hesitation, Preston is an inc…

There are a lot of historical examples arguing for and against you. But murder and rape is far different than getting popped for heroin or selling weed and our laws already reflect that

What are the recidivism rates on those crimes like? Our laws often reflect misguided morals, not hard data. Justice is supposed to be blind. That's an ideal to reach for, not reject out of hand.

Re: How I got here

#126

Post by imtringued »

EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK wrote: post #113

Wait, do they have computer and internet access in prison?? And free meals, healthcare and lodging? I might have taken that deal when I was young, busting my ass at shit jobs and renting shit places with crazy roommates.

I don't know what to tell you, but the quality of the roommates doesn't get better in prison.

Re: How I got here

#127

Post by hermitcrab »

kelnos wrote: post #29
edgyquant wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So he chose to go back to a life of crime and we’re supposed to feel bad for him? There’s a reason he was able to make 20k in a weekend, it’s a high risk high reward business and I have no sympathy for someone who skirts societal norms and makes a shit ton of money in the process while plenty of people suck it up and earn the 10.50 until they can get back out in their own. This guy and his entire post reeks of entitl…

I don't think it really matters if you feel bad for him or not, and focusing on that aspect does more harm than good. I think, given a choice between living in a fucked-up halfway house with your only prospect for the future being a shitty minimum-wage job, or falling back into your old crimes where you can make pretty solid bank doing illegal things (yes, with high risk)... most people would probably pick the latter…

I agree. But society has a hard time accepting that rehabilitating people with criminal records is more useful than punishing them.

Re: How I got here

#128

Post by wavemode »

zoogeny wrote: post #117

> Who else has an opportunity to spend 12+ hours a day learning something for years? With no other obligations or responsibilities? Totally tangential, but this prison article reminded me of a short story by Cory Doctorow about a monastery for programmers. I imagined living in a room about the size of my home office, a bed, a desk, a decent MacBook Pro and a high-speed connection and just hanging out on the Internet…

Athene was indeed trying to start a cult (it had all the basic elements). And from watching him speak in the past, he did seem to me like a huge narcissist.

Haven't been following his latest projects much, and I can't speak to how the Singularity group has changed since back then. Though I have seen his AI channel sometimes. It's moderately entertaining.

Re: How I got here

#129

Post by th4tg41 »

What blew my mind is that ~667/100000 or ~.67% of Americans are incarcerated according to the numbers in this post and the population according to the German Wiki page for the US. Wikipedia says it's .531% on the English language website, .629% on the German site. (Don't know which year for either or if juvenile detention is counted on German site.) That is A LOT! A LOT!

Re: How I got here

#130

Post by andai »

zoogeny wrote: post #117

> Who else has an opportunity to spend 12+ hours a day learning something for years? With no other obligations or responsibilities? Totally tangential, but this prison article reminded me of a short story by Cory Doctorow about a monastery for programmers. I imagined living in a room about the size of my home office, a bed, a desk, a decent MacBook Pro and a high-speed connection and just hanging out on the Internet…

Include me in the monastery.
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