Whistleblowers: Software keeping inmates in Arizona prisons beyond release dates

This was not my experience as an inmate in Texas. Actually, we are referred to as "offenders" [0] because the terms "inmate" and "convict" are considered offensive. Staff can get in trouble for using a pejorative word like "inmate". (Not that they never do because quite honestly I don't know anyone that actually finds the word offensive, but it's still not a word you want to say in front of the warden or higher administrators).

The truth is that staff and administrators are human and have diverse viewpoints. Some don't care about the inmates, but some really want to make a difference in the world. The staff are racially diverse, so you get, for example, a black officer that is very tough on black gangs because he thinks they make black people look bad, but then you have black staff that are particularly sympathetic to black offenders. You can't stereotype the staff—they're just too different.

They're also paranoid about legal liability, so they are pretty careful about avoiding things that could potentially expose them to a lawsuit. It's just like any other large bureaucracy.

> in the meantime, you would revert to pen and paper accounting to ensure the correct release of each prisoner.

Per the article, they are in fact manually computing each prisoner's projected release date:

> In the meantime, Lamoreaux confirmed the “data is being calculated manually and then entered into the system.” Department sources said this means “someone is sitting there crunching numbers with a calculator and interpreting how each of the new laws that have been passed would impact an inmate.”

[0] https://live.staticflickr.com/2048/2235184432_47cfa473bb_b.j...

More people working with a gun to their head. I'd rather the gun be pointed at the person who already has a gun pointed at me, instead of both barrels facing in my direction.

We're not talking about the newest social media hype. This software actually matters. Specially since today most of these bureaucratic processes can't be done without these softwares.

This is why penalties are such an important part of the feedback loop. Obviously we can't go back in time and restore someone's phone privileges, but we can award monetary damages for the mistake.

Monetary damages alone won't discourage this behavior, though, as ultimately taxpayers foot the bill. There also must be some degree of accountability for those in charge of the system. Software can't become a tool for dodging accountability. Those in charge of implementing the software, providing the inputs, and managing the outputs must be held accountable for related mistakes.

> There was an Ask HN question the other day where the poster asked if the software we are building is making the world a better place. There were hardly any replies at all.

Few Ask HN questions get many responses. This is also a loaded question, as HN is notorious for nit-picking every response and putting too much emphasis on the downsides. For example, I know farmers who have increased their farm productivity massively using modern hardware and software. However, if I posted that it would inevitably draw concerns about replacing human jobs, right-to-repair issues, and other issues surrounding the space. The world is definitely better off for having more efficient and productive farming techniques, freeing most of us up to do things other than farm.

However, all new advances bring a different set of problems. Instead of trying to force everything into broad categories of better or worse I think it's important to acknowledge that technology makes the world different. Different is a combination of better and worse. The modern world has different problems than we did 100 years ago, but given the choice I wouldn't choose to roll back to the pre-computer era.

> It certainly seems that way reading articles like this.

Both news and social media have a strong bias toward articles that spark anger or outrage. For me, the whole world stops feeling like a dumpster fire when I disconnect from news and social media for a while. I'm looking forward to the post-COVID era where we can get back to interacting with each other in person rather than gathering around a constant stream of negative stories on social media.