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Ex-Cons Create 'Instagram For Prisons,' and Wardens Are Fine With That (bloomberg.com)
Bloomberg's Olivia Carville writes about three apps that are offering a cheaper way for families to connect with incarcerated loved ones. Here's an excerpt from her report: Pigeonly and its ilk have hit on a communication model -- a necessarily inelegant one -- that meets inmates' desire for a more tangible connection while serving the social-media habits of their loved ones. One of the apps, Flikshop, has been affectionately dubbed the "Instagram for prisons." It's an imperfect metaphor perhaps, but the app is the closest thing to the social network in prison, and Flikshop postcards are pinned up on cell walls across the U.S. Beyond giving prisoners an easier, cheaper and more fulfilling way to communicate, the men who started these apps also want to make inmates less likely to re-offend because they see there's a life to be lived on the outside. Decades of research show that recidivism rates fall when prisoners are in regular contact with family. Criminal justice advocacy groups and rehabilitation non-profits have already started using the apps to make the prison population aware of their services.
Frederick Hutson, 34, started Pigeonly, Inc. in 2013, fresh from a five-year stint in federal prison for drug trafficking. "I saw first-hand how difficult and expensive it was to stay in touch," Hutson says. "I also saw how much of an impact that made on the person behind bars. I would see the guys that had the financial means to stay in touch and when they left prison I would hear that they were doing well, but those who didn't have the support network on the outside -- I'd see them coming back in." Pigeonly -- named for the pigeon post services of wartime fame -- wants to become a bridge between those who live in a digital world and those who are imprisoned in an analog one. Customers subscribe to the app for a monthly fee, ranging from $7.99 to $19.99, in order to send photos and messages and have access to cheaper online phone rates. Pigeonly has 20 full-time staff, half of whom were previously incarcerated themselves. Every day, they send up to 4,000 mail orders into county, state and federal penitentiaries across the country.
Frederick Hutson, 34, started Pigeonly, Inc. in 2013, fresh from a five-year stint in federal prison for drug trafficking. "I saw first-hand how difficult and expensive it was to stay in touch," Hutson says. "I also saw how much of an impact that made on the person behind bars. I would see the guys that had the financial means to stay in touch and when they left prison I would hear that they were doing well, but those who didn't have the support network on the outside -- I'd see them coming back in." Pigeonly -- named for the pigeon post services of wartime fame -- wants to become a bridge between those who live in a digital world and those who are imprisoned in an analog one. Customers subscribe to the app for a monthly fee, ranging from $7.99 to $19.99, in order to send photos and messages and have access to cheaper online phone rates. Pigeonly has 20 full-time staff, half of whom were previously incarcerated themselves. Every day, they send up to 4,000 mail orders into county, state and federal penitentiaries across the country.
Can you assholes stop bringing politics into every fucking story? Nobody is gonna care or read these things except the mods which will just downvote you for being offtopic. In other words: you're wasting your time and the mods and staff for about 5 pairs of eyeballs of reading, which will just be mods and staff reading the same shit over and over again. Stop dishonoring your family for this low payout of effort and outcome dude.
They should have called it "Facebook For Felons" or maybe "Felonbook". Or maybe "Facecrook."
Sometimes the jokes just write themselves.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
Oh yeah? Let me tell you about my hosts file.
The only tools they need are for smashing rocks!
They do not deserve external communications.
Its prison not meant to be a holiday resort!
1) "Customers subscribe to the app for a monthly fee, ranging from $7.99 to $19.99"
IOW, a digital inmate-phone ripoff.
2) The issue with inmate communication is directing criminal activities from inside jails.
All they need are pre-arrange code words to change the positive (if obscenely priced)
communications with family into an ability to run gangs from behind bars.
I had a number of family members in jail that were sent to facilities around the US. I had looked into Pigeonly because of their telephone service rates. Calling inmates is ridiculous - either on their books or calling collect - it's a ransom to call long-distance. What I ended up doing instead was signing up for 3 different google voice numbers in the area codes of the prisons my family were all in and had them call me at the local numbers. While still a lot more than a traditional call, it was astronomically cheaper than long-distance, and cheaper than the plans offered by Pigeonly.
The federal prisons system has email access, and was the cheapest way for all of us to stay in touch. Snail-mail was bad. Sorting and scanning at the prisons is kind of a crap shoot. Sometimes letters wouldn't arrive until 4-6 weeks after we'd sent them. Sometimes they'd show up in 3 days. I think a few showed up 3-4 months latter. The intake office rejects all kinds of letters for arbitrary reasons. They sent back a picture we included with a letter, that my 3 year old had drawn for her uncle. Their note said it was returned because it was an "unsigned card".
My mom's prison had access to video chat. $20 for 15 minutes I think. We tried it 2 times. The latency and lag was really bad. Kind of felt like I was video chatting on an old 320x240 from the early 00s. The apps didn't have any kind of noise canceling / mute function with the mic so unless we chatted on headphones you start an infinite feedback loop. I tried once on computer and once on an iPhone. Because we were only doing it some my mom could see her grandkid, and this 3 year old wasn't into headphones we gave up the video chatting too.
Good on him for helping out people not savvy enough to setup VOIP lines in local area codes and making letter writing easier. Keeping up with people in prison is hard and expensive.
Tomorrow's news: Private prisons complain 'Instagram For Prisons' reduces their profits and implement DNS blocking.
Loool wat did you win? Another few years on slashdot sputtering like an autistic bitch? check
One of the apps, Flikshop, has been affectionately dubbed the "Instagram for prisons."
Filk music, in the person of its writers, performers, and fans, says "Ouch!"
For those who aren't already aware of it, Filk Music is science-fiction/fantasy inspired folk music. "Folk songs for Folk who Ain't Even Been Yet", to quote the title of one album.
(I actually wrote a couple, and got paid for recording one. Little enough, though, that I kept the check as a souvenir rather than cashing it.)
I don't know how long it's been around, but it was already long-standing when I went to my first worldcon - Torcon II in 1973.
Naming a prison conferencing application "Filkshop" will likely make new generations of people think it has something to do with crime and convicts when they first encounter it. That's likely to be annoying.
Even if you DO think people who perpetrate such artistic abominations should be thrown in jail. B-)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
His whole family in prison. #Winning.
Entire traitor Drumpf family in prison. #Winning.
His whole family in prison. #Winning.
Everyone pretends that convicts are oppressed and are just decent people who made a mistake and want to get on with their lives. This is not so, lots of them are terrible people who relieve their families while they are in prison. I remember I used to work for a phone company and call people about bad debts from prison phones. I would tell them I was going to disable their ability to accept collect calls, and a surprising amount of time I was thanked.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
I'm glad there are people out there trying to fix these problems and make life for prisoners better, more rewarding and hopefully less criminal. However, as another post points out this isn't a solution to a real problem but a bullshit regulatory/profit cluster fuck of inmates. Just because inmates have made mistakes doesn't mean it's ok to gouge them and their families just because you can rather than trying to make their lives easier.
Cell phones are cheap as dirt and nationwide plans offer quite reasonable rates for data and phone. Even if you insist on denying all inmates cell phones nothing stops you from glueing them down somewhere. And almost any prison should be able to setup VOIP and video calls for minimal cost.
Hell, in minimum security institutions just LET inmates have cell phones. If they misbehave it's easy to identify and revoke the privilege.
In fact I believe strongly in moving toward the more nordic model of prisons that treat the non-violent inmates with a degree of respect which is then reciprocated (or more cynically the threat of losing privileges is effective).
I'm glad someone is working on this but the truth is that the problem is entirely a regulatory/administrative/profit problem. We have no shortage of cheap easy to use communications devices that could be used to let families stay in contact with prisoners for little cost.
Unfortunately, because these are people who have made mistakes (some serious some not) we don't feel like we have to care about their welfare or avoid gouging them to extra money. I mean if you had any doubt that we just aren't concerned about the welfare of prisoners just take a look at the statistics on prison rape. Given that we shrug about statistics that would be sending us off to fight the good fight if it was anywhere but prison it's not surprising we screw prisoners on telecommunications as well.
Hell, I think we should probably let minimum security prisoners have cell phones. The excess danger is quite minimal (inmates can already get messages out and using a prison registered cell phone would be the best way to get caught) while the benefits to the inmates both emotionally and legally (interact with lawyers) are substantial.
I don't doubt there will be tradeoffs and abuses but I think the model in the nordic prisons of treating the low security inmates with respect and decency and counting on that being met in kind (helping allow better transitions back to society etc..) is very very compelling. We are a different country so I don't know if it will work to have the guards and prisoners dressed in the same outfits as it does for the Danes (swedes?!??) but I see no reason we can't let minimum security prisoners have cell phones.
If you liked this thought maybe you would find my blog nice too:
Like all the murderers, rapists, robbers, and violent criminals. I bet they are really 'loved' by their enablers - sorry - wives...
Put a minefield around a large area of land, and put them all in there, all the criminals, and let them produce their own food, houses, hospitals, (they won't need schools because there won't be any women allowed), electricity, clean water, clothes, etc.
Oh wait - criminals don't do those sorts of things, do they! They have the rest of us to work our asses off, so they can be looked after like little babies. And then they ruin OUR lives by committing crimes against us, and make our neighbourhoods shitholes. Thanks!
...so long as they get their cut.
Everyone pretends that convicts are oppressed and are just decent people who made a mistake and want to get on with their lives. This is not so, lots of them are terrible people who relieve their families while they are in prison. I remember I used to work for a phone company and call people about bad debts from prison phones. I would tell them I was going to disable their ability to accept collect calls, and a surprising amount of time I was thanked.
The only part of that I can believe is that you had a very low level, unskilled job. The rest of the details are just a product of your worsening mental illness. I continue to encourage you to put yourself out of your misery at the first possible opportunity.
I'm sorry, this number does not accept collect calls. Please put the phone down and go eat before they want you back in your cell.
Bwahahaha SNOWFLAKE GO HOME
Gosh that was just his factual opinion. No harsh words or attacks. You are the asshole. How that liberalism working for you?
A factual statement, "people were relieved to have an an excuse not to spend alot of money", coupled with his social analysis.
Newsflash: people in prison often come from poor families.
Cheap storage VM.
The problem with this line of thinking is it forgets that there may be loved ones who are not in prison who wish to keep in touch with those on the inside. I understand and accept some sacrifices must be made, but it needs to be a balance of punishing those inside and not punishing those outside.
"Factual opinion"? Jesus go sit in the corner and think about what you said.
It’s nice to know that prisoners are able to keep in touch with their relatives with this app. Photos are essential part of our modern life and people on the good side should also think about Instagram accounts. If you are inspired with the idea of the most popular profile among your friends go this link www.igautolike.com/product/instagram-auto-comments/ Prices will kindly surprise you