4 ms·

Could you elaborate on what your experience was and the pushback you received? It would also be interesting to hear a bit more about what you built!

bdcravens 6y ago
Many states ban any kind of social media access by inmates, even through a third party https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2017/may/5/texas-prison-system-bans-social-media-prisoners/ https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2017/may/5/texas-prison... Obviously there's some nuance as to whether Soundcloud is social media, but the bigger point is that prisons want to control inmates' ability to communicate
- aerostable_slug 6y ago
  >the bigger point is that prisons want to control inmates' ability to communicate For good reason. Uncontrolled inmate communications result in things like murder: "The complaint alleges that Corbett planned several killings with Ronald Dean Yandell, aka Renegade, an Aryan Brotherhood leader who prosecutors say sits on the three-man commission that runs the gang. Corbett and Yandell were incarcerated 220 miles apart from one another, but regularly communicated through contraband prison cell phones, prosecutors say." https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02/01/ca-inmate-was-killed-minutes-after-prison-gave-him-aryan-brotherhood-associate-as-new-cellmate-lawsuit-says/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02/01/ca-inmate-was-killed-... "Consider the case of a, a 38-year-old Maryland resident who had the bad luck to witness a street murder in Baltimore and the rare courage to agree to testify against the accused killer, Patrick Byers. According to prosecutors, Byers acquired a phone while awaiting trial in Baltimore's City Detention Center. He obtained Lackl's name, address, and phone number and allegedly texted that information to a friend on the outside, along with an offer of $2,500 to get rid of Lackl. On July 2, 2007, the friend rounded up a couple of thugs and drove out to Lackl's modest suburban home, where authorities say the crew blasted him to death with a .44 Magnum." https://www.wired.com/2009/05/ff-prisonphones/ https://www.wired.com/2009/05/ff-prisonphones/ "While authorities say Johnson is the first corrections officer in the U.S. harmed by a hit ordered from inmate’s cell phone, other people have been targets. In 2005, a New Jersey inmate serving time for shooting at two police officers used a smuggled phone to order a fatal attack on his girlfriend, who had given authorities information leading to his arrest." https://newsone.com/753345/prisoner-ordered-hit-outside-of-prison-with-smuggled-cell-phone/ https://newsone.com/753345/prisoner-ordered-hit-outside-of-p... There are more examples, but I think these illustrate that it's a very good idea to have control over inmate communications.
  - x86_64Ubuntu 6y ago
    We don't need to restrict inmates free speech as conspiring to murder someone is already illegal.
    - aerostable_slug 6y ago
      You probably want to at least monitor their communications though; there is essentially no right to privacy for prisoners unless they are communicating with counsel. That means restricting the types of communication they can use (if only for practical reasons). I think most people would agree we all want to avoid scenarios like this: "Inside rolls of razor-wire fence, behind a network of heavy metal doors, locked alone in a North Carolina prison cell for 23 hours every day, a high-ranking gang leader directed accomplices in Georgia to carry out a contract killing. Step by step over a smuggled cellphone, the prisoner instructed gang members in chilling detail: “Gag him real tight. Put something in his mouth. Put something over his head.” The plot, to kill a prosecutor’s father, was foiled in April 2014. The inmate – a founder of the United Blood Nation – was sentenced in November to life plus 84 months on kidnapping and related charges." https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article152334207.html https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article15...
      - jakelazaroff 6y ago
        Do people outside of prison not also organize murders that could be described in similar lurid detail? Maybe we should monitor your communications in case you try something like that. If it seems so imperative that we monitor inmates’ communications for fear they’ll order a murder, consider that there’s a more systemic cause that we need to address.
      - Infinitesimus 6y ago
        It seems your fundamental premise that is that since a few prisoners are very risky, we should impose extremely harsh measures on all of them regardless of what got them in there the first place. Is that right? That's a problematic viewpoint because the same argument can apply to any free person today: "some people in this neighborhood committed some crimes a while ago so let's keep an extra eye on those in the zipcode. Maybe wiretap their houses and restrict communication." Will that sit well with you? Those who profit off the prison industrial complex and those who simply hate certain populations want you to believe that our prisons are full of extremely violent people who should be dehumanizing and taken from society as punishment. A lot of people are there because they had the wrong skin color, got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, are truly innocent, got thrown in jail for a harmless "crime" like having weed, etc.

bdcravens 6y ago

Many states ban any kind of social media access by inmates, even through a third party https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2017/may/5/texas-prison-system-bans-social-media-prisoners/ https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2017/may/5/texas-prison... Obviously there's some nuance as to whether Soundcloud is social media, but the bigger point is that prisons want to control inmates' ability to communicate

aerostable_slug 6y ago
>the bigger point is that prisons want to control inmates' ability to communicate For good reason. Uncontrolled inmate communications result in things like murder: "The complaint alleges that Corbett planned several killings with Ronald Dean Yandell, aka Renegade, an Aryan Brotherhood leader who prosecutors say sits on the three-man commission that runs the gang. Corbett and Yandell were incarcerated 220 miles apart from one another, but regularly communicated through contraband prison cell phones, prosecutors say." https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02/01/ca-inmate-was-killed-minutes-after-prison-gave-him-aryan-brotherhood-associate-as-new-cellmate-lawsuit-says/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02/01/ca-inmate-was-killed-... "Consider the case of a, a 38-year-old Maryland resident who had the bad luck to witness a street murder in Baltimore and the rare courage to agree to testify against the accused killer, Patrick Byers. According to prosecutors, Byers acquired a phone while awaiting trial in Baltimore's City Detention Center. He obtained Lackl's name, address, and phone number and allegedly texted that information to a friend on the outside, along with an offer of $2,500 to get rid of Lackl. On July 2, 2007, the friend rounded up a couple of thugs and drove out to Lackl's modest suburban home, where authorities say the crew blasted him to death with a .44 Magnum." https://www.wired.com/2009/05/ff-prisonphones/ https://www.wired.com/2009/05/ff-prisonphones/ "While authorities say Johnson is the first corrections officer in the U.S. harmed by a hit ordered from inmate’s cell phone, other people have been targets. In 2005, a New Jersey inmate serving time for shooting at two police officers used a smuggled phone to order a fatal attack on his girlfriend, who had given authorities information leading to his arrest." https://newsone.com/753345/prisoner-ordered-hit-outside-of-prison-with-smuggled-cell-phone/ https://newsone.com/753345/prisoner-ordered-hit-outside-of-p... There are more examples, but I think these illustrate that it's a very good idea to have control over inmate communications.
- x86_64Ubuntu 6y ago
  We don't need to restrict inmates free speech as conspiring to murder someone is already illegal.
  - aerostable_slug 6y ago
    You probably want to at least monitor their communications though; there is essentially no right to privacy for prisoners unless they are communicating with counsel. That means restricting the types of communication they can use (if only for practical reasons). I think most people would agree we all want to avoid scenarios like this: "Inside rolls of razor-wire fence, behind a network of heavy metal doors, locked alone in a North Carolina prison cell for 23 hours every day, a high-ranking gang leader directed accomplices in Georgia to carry out a contract killing. Step by step over a smuggled cellphone, the prisoner instructed gang members in chilling detail: “Gag him real tight. Put something in his mouth. Put something over his head.” The plot, to kill a prosecutor’s father, was foiled in April 2014. The inmate – a founder of the United Blood Nation – was sentenced in November to life plus 84 months on kidnapping and related charges." https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article152334207.html https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article15...
    - jakelazaroff 6y ago
      Do people outside of prison not also organize murders that could be described in similar lurid detail? Maybe we should monitor your communications in case you try something like that. If it seems so imperative that we monitor inmates’ communications for fear they’ll order a murder, consider that there’s a more systemic cause that we need to address.
    - Infinitesimus 6y ago
      It seems your fundamental premise that is that since a few prisoners are very risky, we should impose extremely harsh measures on all of them regardless of what got them in there the first place. Is that right? That's a problematic viewpoint because the same argument can apply to any free person today: "some people in this neighborhood committed some crimes a while ago so let's keep an extra eye on those in the zipcode. Maybe wiretap their houses and restrict communication." Will that sit well with you? Those who profit off the prison industrial complex and those who simply hate certain populations want you to believe that our prisons are full of extremely violent people who should be dehumanizing and taken from society as punishment. A lot of people are there because they had the wrong skin color, got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, are truly innocent, got thrown in jail for a harmless "crime" like having weed, etc.