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How I got here

pthorpe92.github.io

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Re: How I got here

#201

Post by xxr »

qingcharles wrote: post #178
simplicio wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The no ID thing is interesting. The article mentions that as a major issue as well. Seems like it'd be a pretty cheap intervention to just issue all out-going prisoners a gov't photo ID on their release.

It is so terribly insane that this isn't done. You are being held by the state. The state has elevated access to state services. How easy would it be for them to hook into the state ID/DMV system and print you a state ID or driver's license before you leave? If they can't verify your identity while you are in prison, then what are you even doing there? All they did before I left prison was try to sign me up for Medic…

> they used to say INMATE but that word has gone out of fashion

Is this due to some kind of “political correctness” thing coming from well meaning people outside the system that the system is pleased to accommodate for easy brownie points, or are there distinct-enough tiers of people inside the system that “inmate” isn’t useful?

Re: How I got here

#202

Post by [deleted] »

wavemode wrote: post #86

I guess I read this blog post very differently from many other commenters. I don't see this as being entitled or avoiding responsibility for his actions. He's just telling his story. He knows he fucked up. But he also knows the system is fucked. If you can't possibly understand how growing up without positive influences can lead someone to a life of crime, you're probably too privileged to be the target audience of t…

[deleted]

Re: How I got here

#203

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: How I got here

#204

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: How I got here

#205

Post by cellis »

laurent_du wrote: post #96
closewith wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The average citizen in every country is already willing to commit a crime. The difference between the average criminal and you is a couple of meals.

No amount of missed meals will make me commit a rape, a murder, or other heinous crimes.

Maybe not for you, but what if your son/daughter was missing meals? Moreover, you can see other people eating just fine, and no one will hire you? Also consider that the people you "murder" likely "had it coming" and were rapists, terrorists, blasphemers, or otherwise cultural heretics...until and unless you've been in those exact situations, it's incredulous that you'd not do what many other humans would do/have done.

Re: How I got here

#206

Post by Barrin92 »

_dark_matter_ wrote: post #124
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 on…

>have the absolute strongest constitution

you don't need to have the 'absolute strongest constitution' to work a boring min-wage job in the United States of America. Ask any refugee who migrated to the country what a hard life looks like.

Smart people like this guy, who choose to go into the drug trade do it because they think a crappy 9-5 job to get back on their feet is beneath them.

Re: How I got here

#207

Post by low_tech_love »

gavinray wrote: post #15

You might consider emailing him. It's lonely in jail/prison. Suddenly everyone you thought were your closest friends don't speak a word to you again. If you're lucky, you've got a wife or parents that'll write to you or take your calls.

I wanted to contact him to tell him that he was wrong (he got to the front page without using any of his proposed techniques [1]) but I couldn’t find the e-mail. I have no LinkedIn either; right now I almost feel like submitting an issue to one of his github repos just to get his attention. Can you point me to his e-mail address?

[1] https://pthorpe92.github.io/humor/How-to-get-on-hackernews-f...

Re: How I got here

#208

Post by low_tech_love »

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…

Can you please let him know about this? I wanted to contact him but I can’t find his e-mail address anywhere.

Re: How I got here

#209

Post by harryvederci »

strix_varius wrote: post #194
codingrightnow wrote: post #171

As a former software engineer for over a decade and current corrections officer in a max level state facility, this is a very interesting topic. My facility has a large college presence within it. While there are problems with it, I think overall it is probably a net positive for the staff and inmates. At the same time, I don't believe that we have more than maybe a small handful of nonviolent/drug offenders; anybody…

Thanks for more first hand insight, from a related but different perspective. I'm curious: what led you to leave software engineering? SWE to corrections officer sounds like a rare journey.

I was going to make a joke like "He probably wanted to do less stressful work."

Then I read that it's not far from the truth: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32554517

Re: How I got here

#210

Post by dvektor »

jasonlotito wrote: post #189

> kicked out of my parents house for being a stupid 17yr old That's child abuse in my book. If you are a parent, you are responsible for your children. That's it. No age limit. Nothing. They need a place? You are responsible for providing them a place to live. This isn't to say you have to be responsible for their crimes, but you should never be allowed to force your child out of your house. YOU brought them into thi…

Author here again: I told myself I was done chiming in, but this is just something I have to clarify.

My parents are absolutely amazing people, and they are the only reason my life has any hope at this point. They were still figuring things out, and didn't understand why I was such a rebellious asshole. Having 4 kids and two of them teenagers isn't easy, and they have been incredibly supportive to my younger siblings when one went through some troubles, and have been supportive to me the entire time. I know this is something my mother feels terrible for, but I feel like I was going to do what I was going to do, and I put no blame on her for anything.

This was the only thing that was going to get me to comment, because i know it breaks my moms heart.

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