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It's really hard for an audience on HN to truly appreciate the situations incarcerated people find themselves in. I think it's fine to "teach prisoners coding"
by crispyambulance 6y ago
It's really hard for an audience on HN to truly appreciate the situations incarcerated people find themselves in.
I think it's fine to "teach prisoners coding" as along as the people involved are aware that to even get to that point, how much BASIC education has to be re-done or done for the first time. Moreover, things like resumes, job hunting, and relating to people in a work environment is something that these folks need to learn and practice. Most have never done that. I've not taught in prisons, but have done ABE (Adult Basic Ed, which is all but required for folks to get through before they can even start a GRE program, and which many parolees are required to enroll in).
In other words, "learning to code" is great, but instruction for literacy, numeracy, and socialization HAVE TO OCCUR before that's even considered, otherwise it's just a cruel pipe-dream.
We so lucky, most of us, to have grown up in an environment where learning achievement is expected and supported by responsible adults. Most of the incarcerated folks have lived a level of depravation that we can't even imagine.
- jandrese 6y agoIt's hard to improve the situation without people screaming about how you're CODDLING MURDERERS! Especially when it involves spending taxpayer money, even if it saves enormous sums in the long run due to reduced recidivism. Many voters are unhappy with anything less than recreating Dante's Inferno, so it is politically risky to implement these reforms that have been so successful in other countries.
- alexashka 6y ago> It's hard to improve the situation without people screaming about how you're CODDLING MURDERERS! Who? Twitter idiots? If you're going to take the weakest of strawman arguments for the opposing side, you're not going to get very far in your thinking. There are plenty of ideas that aren't politically risky that don't get implemented, that would positively affect criminals and non-criminals alike - what's your explanation of such phenomena? Blaming voters for the deeds of politicians has got to be one of the weakest strawmans I've heard in a while. It is the job of the politicians, domain experts and the media to present viable options for the populace to choose from. If the option chosen is shit, it isn't the person working 9-5 and raising a family that was asked to choose who is at fault, I hope that much is obvious.
- pmiller2 6y agoIt's more like no politician wants to be seen as "soft on crime," and this carries over to "soft on criminals." Doing anything to help people in prison once they get out is politically risky in a lot of places. Just look at the number of states where it's still legal to ask if someone has a criminal record on a job application. This not wanting to be "soft on crime" is particularly pathological in jurisdictions where judges are elected.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- ryandrake 6y agoI recall being asked on a job application whether I was ever arrested, regardless of conviction. In some places, mere involvement with law enforcement is taboo.
- jonsen 6y agoWould it be possible to verify if you lied answering that question?
- jandrese 6y agoMaybe not right away, but 5 years down the road when you're in an ugly power struggle with some other jerk for a middle management position HR might get an anonymous tip about how you lied on your resume.
- cema 6y agoPossible but costly. The US lacks a single information system regarding criminal history. There are private investigators, other private companies in the business of "record retrieval", but the results are not 100% accurate.
- cm2187 6y ago