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What is the excuse they are using to push this? People building paper crossbows à la MythBusters? I can't even see a paper thin justification they could use to

What is the excuse they are using to push this? People building paper crossbows à la MythBusters? I can't even see a paper thin justification they could use to sell this. I'd be interested to know who owns the company and who they are connected to in Pennsylvania government. And how much of a kickback the prison system is getting from this.

danso 8y ago
Prison officials have blamed books for being a vector for contraband smuggling: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/maryland-imposes-new-limits-on-book-orders-for-prisoners/2018/05/24/7783c62e-5e90-11e8-9ee3-49d6d4814c4c_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/maryland-... > Maryland prison officials are limiting access to books for thousands of inmates in state-run facilities in the latest effort to reduce drug smuggling. > ...Investigators uncovered 3,422 Suboxone strips during fiscal 2017 and 3,362 so far this fiscal year. However, officials could not say how many of those were concealed in books.
sigmaprimus 8y ago
If this was the only article I read about this subject. I would agree with your comments, unfortunately this is another example of a one sided news article. I was so shocked by this story I looked into it further and it turns out that certain inmates and "donators" were using the book donation system to smuggle books who's pages were infused with drugs into the prisons. Not only that, this article makes it sound like the prisoners have no access to books at all, which is very misleading as all of the correction facilities have libraries and are going to increase funding to improving them in the wake of this new policy. I would agree that it seems absurd to force inmates to purchase an expensive e-reader and this also may be a form of censorship but I'm not sure I disagree with censorship in prisons. You lose many other rights when you are incarcerated and not being able to read everything you want seems very small on the list.
- tyingq 8y ago
  There are less silly ways to solve this though. Some prisons have whitelists of approved online vendors you can send books to prisoners from.
- learc83 8y ago
  >it turns out that certain inmates and "donators" were using the book donation system to smuggle books who's pages were infused with drugs into the prisons. I looked into that after another poster replied. I'm almost certain the problem is being exaggerated based on the quotes from prison officials, and removing the ability to deliver books to all prisoners is probably overkill. Thanks for answering my question though. This sounds like the paper thin justification someone is using to get rich that I was looking for.

danso 8y ago

Prison officials have blamed books for being a vector for contraband smuggling: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/maryland-imposes-new-limits-on-book-orders-for-prisoners/2018/05/24/7783c62e-5e90-11e8-9ee3-49d6d4814c4c_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/maryland-... > Maryland prison officials are limiting access to books for thousands of inmates in state-run facilities in the latest effort to reduce drug smuggling. > ...Investigators uncovered 3,422 Suboxone strips during fiscal 2017 and 3,362 so far this fiscal year. However, officials could not say how many of those were concealed in books.

sigmaprimus 8y ago

If this was the only article I read about this subject. I would agree with your comments, unfortunately this is another example of a one sided news article. I was so shocked by this story I looked into it further and it turns out that certain inmates and "donators" were using the book donation system to smuggle books who's pages were infused with drugs into the prisons. Not only that, this article makes it sound like the prisoners have no access to books at all, which is very misleading as all of the correction facilities have libraries and are going to increase funding to improving them in the wake of this new policy. I would agree that it seems absurd to force inmates to purchase an expensive e-reader and this also may be a form of censorship but I'm not sure I disagree with censorship in prisons. You lose many other rights when you are incarcerated and not being able to read everything you want seems very small on the list.

tyingq 8y ago
There are less silly ways to solve this though. Some prisons have whitelists of approved online vendors you can send books to prisoners from.
learc83 8y ago
>it turns out that certain inmates and "donators" were using the book donation system to smuggle books who's pages were infused with drugs into the prisons. I looked into that after another poster replied. I'm almost certain the problem is being exaggerated based on the quotes from prison officials, and removing the ability to deliver books to all prisoners is probably overkill. Thanks for answering my question though. This sounds like the paper thin justification someone is using to get rich that I was looking for.