Slashdot Mirror
Prison Program Aims To Turn Criminals Into Coders
Press2ToContinue writes with news that San Quentin, a notorious California prison, has started a program to teach a class of inmates to write code. The first class will last for six months, and the inmates are learning about programming for eight hours a day. The hope is to give them the skills to find a good job after they leave prison, which in turn would reduce their chances of recidivism. Since the state's Dept. of Corrections prohibits internet access, the class only "pretends" to be online — they can't use internet-based resources, and nobody on the outside can see or use the software they create. One of the class's backers said, 'Almost every week there's epiphanies. And most of the guys in here, they've never touched a computer before. They are progressing beyond our expectations."
For those who still want to believe that there's a long-term future in coding ... how DO you plan to compete with people who have no debt from education and will qualify for massive job subsidies?
You mean the ones that will probably never get hired because of their criminal record?
They will probably pass a law saying you cannot discriminate against prior convictions or something unless you can demonstrate some need for security that requires it.
The Governor of Ohio is already trying something similar. He's expanded or trying to expand professional license qualifications to convicts who have been trouble free for an amount of time. He said something about how do you expect recidivism to be low when released prisoners cannot even get jobs they can likely support themselves on. I'm not aware of any specific legislation but I saw him bring it up in a couple speeches.
This story already appeared on Slashdot back on Nov 25, 2013. So how many ex-con coders have been hired since then? How successful is this program? Given the prevalence of really short "boot camp" coder training programs, many cohorts of these ex-con coders should have been released from prison (they're not training lifers or long-term convicts, are they?) and established themselves in the workforce. We should have some hard numbers by now about how effective this program is.
As a convicted felon who served 2 1/2 years in prison and have spent the last 10 years working for ATT and IBM, I'm going to have to disagree. I make over $100k per year and I deserve it because I'm a good engineer regardless of my past criminal record. There's no reason they should not make as much as you and I if they have the skills.
When I was in prison, I actually tried to learn programming and was denied the opportunity to even read coding books because the department of prisons said it would make me a smarter criminal. So I went back to college when I got out and got my degree in computer science. I think the shift in the emphasis on training and education are absolutely critical to keeping people out of prison. Period. There is no other way. Prison as a punishment simply isn't enough to prevent crime or recidivism. People need something positive to strive for instead of constantly struggling to survive.
So, if you're a convict - do not give up! Educate yourself and be persistent and it will pay off, I promise.
You're confusing protected minorities with non-protected ones.
Protected ones are race, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation.
Non-protected ones are smokers, criminals, nihilists, believing the earth is flat, which teletubby is your favorite and MANY more.
If you could easily get jobs with a criminal record there would probably be less recidivism. Making a law that forbids you from not hiring criminals would however be quite stupid. If you embezzle money, it would be pretty dumb if they couldn't discriminate when hiring for an accountant position you were otherwise qualified for.
Other countries do it, and have far lower prison populations per capita. 40% of all working-age Americans have a criminal record. Do you really want them all to be unemployable, and having to return to crime to survive?
Believing that it is not possible for someone to reform is a self-fulfilling prophecy when you then also enact policies that actively drive them back to crime. Not too smart, especially when many of the crimes are minor. How do you expect a sex worker to get out of the trade if you cut her off from the alternatives that are open to everyone else? Or anyone else who has a criminal record, for that matter?
We had a police captain here who was caught stealing cocaine from the evidence locker. Arrested, convicted, did his time, and while inside learned how to be an accountant. Got a job while living in a half-way house. Now he's a tax-payer again. Win-win for everyone.
Or you can keep building jails. Just remember, you're the one footing the bill for it.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
If they can hire 10 really motivated coders (and after a few years in "the big house", they'll be motivated), for next to nothing after taking into account subsidies, for less than 1 of you, many will take the chance, because the bottom line is the bottom line.
They can already do this now with foreign labor. And they can already hire 4 low quality recent college grads for the same price as well. But they don't, because they don't want to deal with a large team of people causing their bosses more headaches than they are worth. They don't want to deal with inaccurate data on their corporate reports, support cases which are orphaned in the database, or business users who refuse to use their new CRM/ERP systems since it is too buggy to be useful. They want someone who fixes problems, not people who create them.
Many pointy hair bosses aren't smart enough to realize the value of quality employees, but enough of them are.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke