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Robots To Patrol South Korean Prisons
bukharin writes "As reported by various sites, South Korea is planning a trial of robotic prison guards in Pohang. The idea is that the robots will roll around the prison monitoring conditions inside the cells and communicate back to human guards if they detect a problem such as violence. Apparently the human guards are happy with the idea because they get to do less, especially overnight. And if you were worried about Skynet, you needn't be: according to Prof. Lee Baik-chul of Kyonggi University, who's running the trial, '... the robots are not terminators. Their job is not cracking down on violent prisoners. They are helpers.' Good to know."
because cameras cannot be converted to terminators
Spent two years working with prisons of every kind early in my tech career, I've probably worked with a third of the prisons federal and state for both the US and Canada. These are not environments where privacy is a good thing.
This is a very good thing for prisoners because a robot can't be bribed, threatened or tricked the same way a human can. Prison is a very ugly thing, violence, extortion and rape are very real threats that can happen daily. It also reduces the risk for the officers that are greatly outnumbered. Frankly it would be best for these robots to do well and become another export, we could certainly use them over here.
Because cameras aren't usually mobile? And thus people can hide things in dead angles?
If there are dead zones, the camera system installer did not do their job correctly.
The robot cannot enter a prisoner's cell when the door is closed. At night all doors are closed and locked. So, at night, the robot will have large dead zones; fixed cameras (which could be IR sensitive) would have no such problems.
Robots need to move around for full coverage. Prisoners will act completely normal when the robot is near, and go back to doing whatever once it has gone. Robots are louder and more easily avoided than a good guard in tennis shoes.
And, for the price of one robot, you can buy a lot of fixed cameras, which require a lot less maintenance. The cameras work 24/7/365, but the robots will have down time for charging.
Oh come on. You really think a politician could pass any of those laws without getting voted out? That goes beyond mere exaggeration to outright paranoia. If you believe what you wrote, you should seek counseling.
They passed the 3-strikes law and no one was voted out of office.
What isn't obvious to most, your 3 strikes can happen with one charge, it doesn't have to be repeat charges at all.
The list of "serious" crimes originally stated to get it passed has been extended to any criminal offense.
Recall the catch-all charge of "resisting arrest"? And how it has been repeatedly applied to people clearly not resisting anything nor under arrest.
Even people having seizures have been charged with resisting arrest and had it upheld until the appeals court a year later.
If three police officers are present when one of them decides to fuck you, you just committed 3 resisting arrest offenses in one charge, which has a mandatory required life-time prison sentence.
People just like you stated that law would never be abused as it's only for serious crimes!
If you can't see past those lies, it is not anyone else who needs counseling... Especially with so many cases that prove it has happened every time such a law comes up.
Mandatory life time prison sentence for pissing off one cop while two others are present. No one got voted out of office for it.
Law has been this way for hundreds of years. Why do you think this one single case would be any different? Extraordinary claims you are making and all that...
This sort of thinking is usually cured at the moment the pipe connects with the occipital bone while having your laptop/wallet/cellphone/car stolen.
Which is why civilized countries have a system of courts for determining punishment. Because somebody was clever enough to realize that feelings of revenge should not cloud a decision of imprisonment.
Some men are feral. Whether by choice (misanthropes) or training (via our welfare state) they are indeed primitive and irredeemable.
Actually, I think you're right. In Denmark where the maximum penalty is 14 years in prison (I believe), there is a special provision for lifetime prison for people who are judged to be too dangerous to let out. Even here, the case must reevaluated.
However, this is an extremely small minority. For the rest, this kind of thinking just makes it harder to turn the criminals into productive members of society.