Slashdot Mirror
EFF: Hundreds of S. Carolina Prisoners Sent To Solitary For Social Media Use
According to the EFF's Deep LInks, Through a request under South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act, EFF found that, over the last three years, prison officials have brought more than 400 hundred disciplinary cases for "social networking" — almost always for using Facebook. The offenses come with heavy penalties, such as years in solitary confinement and deprivation of virtually all privileges, including visitation and telephone access. In 16 cases, inmates were sentenced to more than a decade in what’s called disciplinary detention, with at least one inmate receiving more than 37 years in isolation. ... The sentences are so long because SCDC issues a separate Level 1 violation for each day that an inmate accesses a social network. An inmate who posts five status updates over five days, would receive five separate Level 1 violations, while an inmate who posted 100 updates in one day would receive only one. In other words, if a South Carolina inmate caused a riot, took three hostages, murdered them, stole their clothes, and then escaped, he could still wind up with fewer Level 1 offenses than an inmate who updated Facebook every day for two weeks.
When can we start punishing non-inmates for this offense?
It'll be interesting to see how long it takes for the mainstream media to run with this.
I don't see why inmates need access to it at all. They can find plenty of other ways to not be productive.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
you control the outside.
How do they even have access to Facebook? Don't they use HTTP proxies? Almost feels like entrapment.
How is communicating on Facebook different than making phone calls or sending letters to the outside world?
How in the world are they posting to facebook? Are they using smuggled in devices, or are they using devices provided by the prison system? If the later, why don't they just block access to facebook at a level where the inmates can't override it?
I expect that would lead to a slightly reduced sentence for time served...
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
if a South Carolina inmate caused a riot, took three hostages, murdered them, stole their clothes, and then escaped, he could still wind up with fewer Level 1 offenses than an inmate who updated Facebook every day for two weeks.
I expect that the time added for a level 1 is not fixed, that it depends upon the nature of the offense. So the murderer will get more additional time than the face booker.
Usage of social media is equivalent to unsupervised communication with people outside the prison walls. To my knowledge this has always been a big deal and whatever technology is used shouldn't make much of a difference in punishment. Even seemingly innocent communications can be forms of steganography.
Also, I'm pretty sure inmates who commit murder will be charged with murder.
All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
What the sensational article deliberately ignores is what these prisoners were doing ... running gangs on smuggled phones.
The offense is unauthorized communications. Facebook posts are convenient proof of that offense. Someone with access to a telecommunications device could be ordering gangland hits just as easily as liking someone on Facebook.
are monitored and read by the prison officials.
Three things:
1. This really is a punishment grossly disproportionate with the magnitude of the rule broken.
2. If they don't want them using Facebook, then why isn't it blocked on all computers that inmates have access to?
3. Using Facebook is punishment enough in and of itself, why add insult to injury over it?
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
There's no money for the prison vendors when an inmate uses Facebook. Those calls aren't cheap, and neither are letters. Count on these folks being able to use social media when there's an app to give the state and some contractor a cut of a fee for each post collected from the family of the incarcerated.
Then we need to outlaw the prison industrial complex.
I assume they mean solitary when they say isolation. I don't care what "crime" these cons did on the inside, unless you're talking about Magneto and his plastic cell no one should be in solitary for 37 years.
Long term use of the SHU seems to be used as punishment, or more appropriately a form of torture. I can barely imagine the psychological and physical damage of being in the SHU for that long. We may as well be blasting loud music 24/7 and practice forced feedings while we're at it.
If you're so worried about communicating outside the prison and apparently unable to control smartphones from getting inside then maybe you should start looking at Faraday cages or jamming signals. I'm sure the FCC would give an exception given enough proof that these communications were actually resulting in gang activity.
Fortunately, the screws know what slashdot is like and it doesn't count as "social media". More like asocial media.
The question remains, how were the prison workers who allowed this in the first place punished?
I used to think that inmates talking about prison being a business was bullshit. Then I see how many prisons are privately run and how deals are made to keep that at a certain capacity. Then think of all the support companies that sell items to prisons (clothing, food, equipment, employees, etc etc). Then you look at the incarceration rate of the USA compared to other countries and it all becomes clear.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
All the Level 1 offenses in the world can't make their prison stay LONGER than what they were originally sentenced for. It just makes their time in prison more boring- it's punishment because they shouldn't have access to phones in the first place, because inmates run their gangs and can make hits on officers and civilians from behind prison walls using the internet. So the comparison between an Inmate accessing facebook for 2 weeks getting more severe punishment than an inmate who murders people is ludicrous- because the person who murders people and then runs away will be charged with several different counts and will get MORE prison time, whereas the dude who accessed Facebook will keep his original sentence.
It seems to me that using Facebook is its own punishment. They should reduce their sentences for voluntary self-torture, not lengthen them.
In other words, if a South Carolina inmate caused a riot, took three hostages, murdered them, stole their clothes, and then escaped, he could still wind up with fewer Level 1 offenses than an inmate who updated Facebook every day for two weeks.
Okay. How do we get that punishment implemented out in the world?
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
No way they can keep Jon McClain down... No way..
"In May 2014, Jonathan McClain received 9,000 days (24.6 years) in disciplinary detention and lost 18,000 days (49 years) in telephone, visitation, and canteen privileges, and 30 days of good time—all for 25 posts on Facebook."
I never understood why prisons are mandated to install cell jammers around the entire prison. This simple solution would a) prevent violent and dangerous criminals from being able to communicate with cohorts outside of prison, and b) prevent corrupt guards from profiting through providing criminals with cellular contraband.
I know this sounds terribly traditional, but what could be wrong with sending a friend a letter in which you give instructions to post an update to social media on your behalf? I'm sure that all letters from prison would be read to make sure they're not carrying out something illegal, but it's not illegal for the friend to post an online update, right?
Or how about this: The friend starts a blog called "Letters From Sam in Jail" and just posts a scan of each letter received. That's a clear case where the prisoner is (indirectly) blogging, but nobody is doing something wrong. Right?
4:30PM: wrapping shank handle :( :( :( :( fucking hate that puta
6:00PM: meat balls cold noodles
1:00AM: hooked sum smokes from the line
1:01AM: i hate menthol
2:24PM: finished shank! check teh pic itz bad ass
4:01PM: lawyer sez my appeal isup next week. coolz
7:10PM: sharpen shank. it was sharp but lolz
9:00AM: powdered eggs again
1:15PM: emilio took the shank
6:05PM: meat balls rice
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
How could you escape with all of those clothes?
Prison is a punishment.
It is supposed to take that person out of society because society doesn't want them. Letting them back in through social media defeats the purpose.
Isn't the point of prison to separate criminals from the general population?
Time to roll this out to the general population. We should start with the worst offenders, the ringleaders. Zuckerberg should get death.
Like, say, going for a walk? Having a beer?
Am I the only one thinking that an appropriate countermeasure would be to ask facebook to restrict access to their account until their time is served?
If you can hide your crime, you won't do the time.
Illegal is defined by what you can get caught for.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
400 hundred cases? So 400 x 100 cases? That's a lot of cases!
I'm glad the law is finally wising up to the dangers of Facebook.
And should be illegal.
If the prisons don't want inmates to use social networks, then block them!
Simple.
The problem is that inmates are being disproportionally punished (37 years in solitary confinement when the prison sentence itself is less than 5-10 years????). Murdering people in prison gets you less time in solitary than this.
The other problem is that inmates are being punished for what other people do.
The last problem is that cutting inmates off from the outside world stops justice from being served. You can't mount a public defence with the public of your injustices by the courts if you can't communicate with the outside work. The legal system already makes it difficult to defend yourself publicly from unjust accusations and charges because said communications may be used against you.
And the courts are aren't providing justice. They're forcing the accused into pleading guilty via numerous legal manoeuvres. For example they draw out the case to deplete whatever resources a defendant has (often they never get to trial because the resources are depleted). Other issues is the change in the law that doesn't allow for fair sentencing. Judges hands are tied and prosecutors use 30 year sentences to scare people accused of minor crimes into pleading guilty- which then often gets then little to no time- maybe a year (which might still be excessive). The federal guilty plea rate has risen from 83% in 1983 to 96% in 2009,[24] a rise attributed largely to the Sentencing Guidelines. Then there are other tactics like piling on charges to overwhelm the accused and his legal team (should he even have those kinds of resources). The other issues is they often illegally withhold evidence that would help the defence. The idea is that the prosecutor is suppose to be a neutral party in or to some degree. That doesn't make sense, but thats the theory- and as such are suppose to provide all evidence including what might help the defendant- but they don't.
Get rich first
"It's been weeks since I updated my status. How people are gonna know about -- oh yeah, I've been locked up in some freaky ass prison." (Source)
Or die trying.
It's interesting, and horrifying, to see how many people joke about U.S. government corruption.
We control the vertical
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
more than 400 hundred disciplinary cases for "social networking"
So, that means more than 40 000 cases, for us non-USAsians? That's just insane.
Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
Lol, I love my state. They so cray!
Clearly a violation of the 8th Amendment guarantee against unreasonable punishment.
I moved to South Carolina 4 years ago, and let me tell you first hand, this place is not just corrupt to the very bone, but it's still living in the 1800s.
Or... you could just follow the rules.