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Running a Website from Your Prison Cell

Eh-Wire writes "Although prisoners Internet access is highly restricted, this hasn't prevented many inmates from getting around the restrictions with the judicious use of phone and snail-mail privileges to network with friends, relatives, activists, and associates to provide content to their websites. Some use their websites to badger witnesses and prosecuters, while others plead their case or phish for pen-pals. Some have successfully challenged their convictions through their websites, which complicates efforts by authorities to silence them. Websites domiciled outside of the respective jurisdictions further complicate the issue. Yahoo News has additional commentary on this controversial subject."

6 of 478 comments (clear)

  1. link to prisoner's site by Prodigy+Savant · · Score: 4, Informative
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  2. Re:Prisoners by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you're in prison, you've been convicted of a felony. Felons have no right to vote. Once you've been convicted of a felony, you're stripped of many of your rights for the rest of your life.

  3. Re:Prisoners by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Have to post AC because I actually work for a Corrections Department in IT and I don't think it would be proper to do otherwise.

    Your assumptions are poor.

    They shouldn't be allowed access because they are criminals.

    I'm a very liberal fellow. But after working at a state correction department for several years now my few on inmate is anything but liberal.

    You give these people gum and they'll short a circuit with the wraper. You give them a floppy disk and they'll open a master lock (that's not a joke, the metalic part can very easily be made to open locks).

    When they are in prison they shouldn't be allowed access to the internet because they are criminals and they would abuse it. It's all nice to be Mr. Compasion until you realize that the reality is that anything you give them is abused. Over and over.

    Safety? How about inmates looking up how to break the system? Cheat the system. Hacks. What is going on in other prisons. You know how quickly disorder can occur. Imagine an inmate looking at a gang site. Gangs are *huge* issues in prisons. Gagns are all over prisons.

    Order? How about inmates googling information on other inmates. Really, safety and order are basically the same thing to a prison. Not sure why you listed them seperately.

    Hell, it's bad enough keeping them off our networks. They aren't allowed. But you would be *shocked* to see what inmates can think of. Not everyone in jail is an idiot, and they have a lot of times on their hand. I've seen work MaCgyver would be proud of getting stolen parts onto the network.

  4. Re:Prisoners by caino59 · · Score: 3, Informative

    sorry - wrong.

    you only lose your right to vote while you serve your sentence.

    right to own a gun - that varies by crime.

    non-violent crime, people normally can own arms after serving out their sentence.

    violent crime? no way, bub.

  5. Re:Prisoners by zippthorne · · Score: 3, Informative

    No in many states you lose your right to vote forever. In either case, by commiting a felony, you are essencially excluding yourself from the social contract by which you are afforded any rights at all (by ignoring the rights of others). Felons don't believe in your right to property/life/free express, etc. why should you agree to theirs? Certainly there may be some examples of felons who are reformed, but their restoration of rights is and should be at the largess of society at large.

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  6. Re:Prisoners by coopex · · Score: 3, Informative

    No, you're wrong.

    From here: http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/ulk/amlock.html Percent of federal prisoner population incarcerated for nonviolent crimes: 89
    Percent of new admissions to federal prisons that are for nonviolent crimes: 94
    Percent of state prisoner population convicted on drug charges, 1979: 6
    Percent of state prisoner population convicted on drug charges, 1991: 21
    Percent of Federal prisoner population convicted on drug charges, 1979: 25
    Percent of Federal prisoner population convicted on drug charges, 1991: 58

    And on drug incarcerations: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/prison.htm
    Prisoners sentenced for drug offenses constituted the largest group of Federal inmates (55%) in 2001, down from 60% in 1995

    And finally, on how Amsterdam has largely eliminated its drug problems through decriminalization http://www.cedro-uva.org/lib/reinarman.califano.ht ml

    Go check some facts before you spout off your opinion as gospel.

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