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    Working on databases from prison

    (turso.tech)
    849 points dvektor | 11 comments | 16 Jun 25 12:32 UTC | HN request time: 0.9s | source | bottom
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    mlissner ◴[16 Jun 25 14:28 UTC] No.44289885[source]▶
    Maine's remote work program is an incredibly promising development to prevent recidivism. The amazing thing about it is that it gives real jobs to prisoners that they can seamlessly continue after they get out of prison. Normally when you get out, it's impossible to get a job, and the clock is ticking. This leads to desperation, which leads to bad behavior.

    There is a real risk of exploitation, but if it's properly managed, remote work for prisoners is one of the most hopeful things I've heard about the prison system. It gives people purpose while there and an avenue to success once they're out.

    replies(7): >>44290046 #>>44290150 #>>44291513 #>>44291690 #>>44293165 #>>44293193 #>>44293353 #
    dfxm12 ◴[16 Jun 25 14:52 UTC] No.44290150[source]▶
    Do participants get paid a real wage?
    replies(1): >>44290225 #
    glommer ◴[16 Jun 25 14:57 UTC] No.44290225[source]▶
    Preston was free to negotiate his pay with us, and we pay him a full salary. Just no health care benefits.
    replies(2): >>44290487 #>>44290988 #
    dgacmu ◴[16 Jun 25 15:24 UTC] No.44290487[source]▶
    Does he actually get the salary, or does the prison take huge overhead?
    replies(2): >>44290547 #>>44290868 #
    glommer ◴[16 Jun 25 15:31 UTC] No.44290547[source]▶
    they take an (actually very reasonable) cut, but he is free to take his salary.
    replies(2): >>44290606 #>>44292364 #
    kgwxd ◴[16 Jun 25 15:37 UTC] No.44290606[source]▶
    No cut is reasonable.
    replies(6): >>44290689 #>>44290761 #>>44290790 #>>44290903 #>>44291361 #>>44291420 #
    1. mp05 ◴[16 Jun 25 17:07 UTC] No.44291361[source]▶
    Don't you suppose that it's "fair" to request compensation for the room and board if the person is making a "fair" wage?
    replies(3): >>44291472 #>>44292090 #>>44292787 #
    2. bokoharambe ◴[16 Jun 25 17:20 UTC] No.44291472[source]▶
    Forced room and board?
    replies(2): >>44291947 #>>44293720 #
    3. Ray20 ◴[16 Jun 25 18:12 UTC] No.44291947[source]▶
    And also medical care. Literally socialism.
    4. BlarfMcFlarf ◴[16 Jun 25 18:26 UTC] No.44292090[source]▶
    No. Prisons should cost society money. If you are taking away someone’s freedoms, there should be a high cost so you don’t do it flippantly when another solution will work.
    replies(2): >>44292941 #>>44293684 #
    5. BobaFloutist ◴[16 Jun 25 19:45 UTC] No.44292787[source]▶
    No, because they don't want to be there.
    6. mp05 ◴[16 Jun 25 20:06 UTC] No.44292941[source]▶
    Wow.

    No, they forfeited their freedoms and we're put away by due process, but if that's your point of view then we've nothing further to discuss. Incredible stuff on HN these days.

    replies(2): >>44293393 #>>44296228 #
    7. lazyasciiart ◴[16 Jun 25 21:06 UTC] No.44293393{3}[source]▶
    Incredible for sure. To start with, it sounds like you think due process means that any kind or amount of punishment must be correct and reasonable, which. wow.
    8. Reasoning ◴[16 Jun 25 21:44 UTC] No.44293684[source]▶
    Are you concerned that if you make prison too expensive society might resort to capital punishment to reduce prison costs? Or we end up releasing prisoners who are legitimate dangers to society.

    And to be clear, I'm opposed to capital punishment and dangerous conditions in prisons. I'm just pointing out that I don't think your argument is very good. If you think we as a society are willing to flippantly put people in prison because it's cheap I don't see how you can trust us to no resort to other flippant measures if the cost was high.

    9. oh_fiddlesticks ◴[16 Jun 25 21:49 UTC] No.44293720[source]▶
    To be honest, if he didn't pay a cut of his earnings while living off government allocated funds, wouldn't that put him in a better position than those who haven't been found guilty and sentenced for breaking the laws of the land in which they reside? I can't see a much resistance to the argument that they one really ought to pay the full cost back to the state, as with community service... no?
    replies(1): >>44306007 #
    10. const_cast ◴[17 Jun 25 06:31 UTC] No.44296228{3}[source]▶
    For starters this is just a complete non-comment. I mean there's no substance here.

    And secondly, he has a good point. We don't want to make locking people up easy or cheap. It should be high-friction, it should take a long time, and it should cost the government lots and lots of money.

    Why? Incentives. The government has no reason to prevent crime if locking people up is cheap. It's made even worse by the promise of cheap or free labor. Then, you run into issues where the government actually wants people to fail and do crime, so they can extract labor from them. We see this quite aggressively in some southern states like Georgia. A remnant of Jim Crow era America.

    But, if prison is expensive, the government will be incentivized to put some of that money into crime prevention programs. Things like homeless shelters, food banks, job programs.

    11. bokoharambe ◴[18 Jun 25 02:02 UTC] No.44306007{3}[source]▶
    No, for the simple fact that he'd still be stuck in an American prison where people are brutalized, sexually assaulted, denied access to medical care, abused by guards, etc. regularly. He deserves everything he is able to earn under those conditions, and truthfully it's a miracle he can work at all.

    Americans have become too comfortable with their everyday sadism.