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JSTOR is Now Available in 1k Prisons

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Re: JSTOR is Now Available in 1k Prisons

#91

Post by mindslight »

slt2021 wrote: post #86
mindslight wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, doubling down on the already arbitrary and capricious criminalization of consciousness-affecting chemicals, especially with the death penalty , is not something the US should learn from. I've never been big into hard drugs and I don't even really drink these days, but I still recognize that such laws are an affront to my own personal freedom and a blight on the goal of law and order.

so 112,000 people died from fentanyl overdose, and it is affecting both poor, mid and high income people. What will be court sentence for someone who stabbed 112,000 people? this is plain genocide, that US progressive liberals somehow allow to happen as "harm reduction" - while in fact it is harm increasing by spreading out everywhere

I haven't heard any news regarding this incident where one person surreptitiously poisoned 112,000 people with fentanyl, which is what's implied by the responsibility in your narrative. Got a link?

Or if you're trying to imply that every person remotely related to the drug market is jointly and severely responsible for every person who dies using fentanyl, that is so far from the American conception of individual freedom and personal responsibility I don't know that there is common ground to be had.

Also as far as I can tell, very few people are setting out to deliberately do fentanyl itself. So that would point to the problem being the complete lack of otherwise standard product regulation, which also stems from prohibition.

Re: JSTOR is Now Available in 1k Prisons

#92

Post by giaour »

earthwalker99 wrote: post #24
giaour wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Community college libraries usually have access to the same databases as other higher ed institutions. CC tuition for a single class varies, but under a couple hundred bucks is typical.

The grade goes on your record, though. The time investment to complete the course with a satisfactory grade would negate the time I have to read the material.

You can check with your local CC if being enrolled is even required. The one near me lets you register as a "community patron" (for free, I believe) with limited borrowing privileges if you live in the area.

Pricing for academic materials is nonsensical, but you can usually find a way to get free or cheap access as an individual learner if you go through libraries.

Re: JSTOR is Now Available in 1k Prisons

#93

Post by ethbr1 »

vincnetas wrote: post #90
ethbr1 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, approaching problems empirically and routing around moralizing is one of my great hopes for AI. If it's a black box, nobody can fan outrage that it's not doing {insert moral but maladaptive thing}.

people do not need a valid or logical reason to be outraged ;)

They don't, but it takes a lot of chutzpah to be angry at dice!

Re: JSTOR is Now Available in 1k Prisons

#94

Post by ethbr1 »

aeturnum wrote: post #73
ethbr1 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Profiting off an inmate's desire to communicate with their family seems egregiously "unreasonable", for starters. And to your post-prison future point, maladaptive. Discharging someone at the end of their sentence with (a) family and social connections strained or severed, (b) depleted financial resources, & (c) a barrier to jobs in many states... does not sound like a mix that reduces recidivism. Instead, reasoning…

I totally agree that it's important (to all of us) that prisoners be able to maintain their most intimate connections. > I do think there should very much be tiering of prisons. There are some irredeemably fucked up individuals, who have burned through multiple chances I both know what you mean and think it's important to consider the current unacceptable state of prisons (which isn't exactly new) when thinking about…

Any system is fallible. Is the person in prison because the courts worked or they didn't? Is the inmate in solitary because prison monitoring worked or it didn't?

So human sortings will never be 100% fair and correct.

But there's also a vast range to how people conduct themselves in the world and their moral codes.

I think it at least behooves us to consider that the greatest threat to rehabilitation of some inmates might be... other inmates.

Re: JSTOR is Now Available in 1k Prisons

#96

Post by ethbr1 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #76
ethbr1 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Profiting off an inmate's desire to communicate with their family seems egregiously "unreasonable", for starters. And to your post-prison future point, maladaptive. Discharging someone at the end of their sentence with (a) family and social connections strained or severed, (b) depleted financial resources, & (c) a barrier to jobs in many states... does not sound like a mix that reduces recidivism. Instead, reasoning…

> Profiting off an inmate's desire to communicate with their family seems egregiously "unreasonable", for starters How much is profit versus heightened cost, e.g. monitoring?

We'd know, except the two biggest companies GTL and Securus, that together make up about 70% of the market, are both owned by private equity and have no requirement to disclose.

It is known that a high percentage of fees are paid back to the prison the calls originate from [0], and that offering to return a higher percentage is one way these companies win exclusive contracts with prisons.

So color me suspicious that a profit source for prisons is being run at the most efficient and lowest possible cost to inmates...

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inmate_telephone_system#Serv...

Re: JSTOR is Now Available in 1k Prisons

#97

Post by lxe »

"unimaginable goal: providing JSTOR access in 1,000 prisons."

If this is in the realm of "unimaginable goals" for them, then public access to science is infinitesimally unlikely. What a joke of an organization.

Re: JSTOR is Now Available in 1k Prisons

#98

Post by tzs »

earthwalker99 wrote: post #8

Me in my late 20s would have wanted to go to prison for this. Having to pay college tuition to access academic material like this is so insane.

Every library in JSTOR's network of more than 10000 institutions is authorized to provide free access to walk-in users.

It is probably a good idea to first check to see if there are any such libraries in your area that offer such success before turning to prison.

Re: JSTOR is Now Available in 1k Prisons

#99

Post by a2800276 »

nonrandomstring wrote: post #69
aaroninsf wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And, this success is measureable . Outcomes in terms of overall recidivism, and in total societal cost, just as in the case of universal health care, so great as to make the American disposition appear not just irrational but willfully counterproductive. This country in its current formulation appears incapable of ever escaping the gravity of feverish Christian moralizing and the correlated vicious contempt for objec…

> feverish Christian moralizing I realise that Christianity in the USA _means_ (to the average American) something almost unrecognisable to me as an Englishman. But if we're talking about punitive prison systems don't you think that's a little harsh considering a central tenet is the forgiveness of sins .

Central tenant!? Eye for an eye! Don't mess with Texas. Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt just for looking back at the homos.

Re: JSTOR is Now Available in 1k Prisons

#100

Post by jstarfish »

aeturnum wrote: post #29

Obviously this brings up the horrible unfairness of Aaron Swartz's treatment, but before you move on I encourage you to further get upset about the entire US prison system. Prisoners are charged high fees for access to basic resources[1]. There is a whole industry in "providing" services to prisoners at lower quality and higher cost. This goes against any notion of just punishment. Consider pushing back against the p…

Swartz didn't die in vain; this stinks of grift.

Why prisoners, in particular? As you say, they don't exactly have easy access to online resources to begin with.

They might as well offer free pap smears to incarcerated men. They won't take advantage of the offer, but you sure look philanthropic as you pocket the grant money that funds this initiative. In a few years you can shut it down, citing lack of use.

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