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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...
Its prison not meant to be a holiday resort!
You should look at Scandinavian 5-star "prisons". Safety tip: before you look them up, take your blood pressure meds.
If you read the /. snippet, it says that increased communication helps these people NOT to land back in prison. This effort should be applauded.
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.
A prison systems job is or at least should be to reduce damage caused by criminals to regular society. There are three mechanisms through which it can do that.
1. Deterrent, most people don't want to be locked up, hopefully the threat of being locked up keeps most people in-line.
2. Rehabilitation. convincing prisoners that they have options other than a life of crime, that they have friends and family they would rather be with than in prison.
3. Removal, if the prisoner is locked up and communications are restricted then it's harder for them to commit crimes against anyone other than the other prisoners and the wardens.
A good prison system IMO balances the factors, not so cushy that it fails to be a deterrent, but not so isolating from society that prisoners become totally dysfunctional and feel they have no choice but to turn back to crime.
note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
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
So we should do things that have been shown lead to higher recidivism rates afternthey leave prison? Yeah, that sounds smart... not.
A same society might try to make life outside of prison better, more appealable and more managanle instead of trying to make life inside a prison a nightmarish hellscape that one cannot help but be drawn back into.
Just saying.
But seriously, invest in private prison stocks. The only downside is the people that run them and the risk of losing profits to their embezzlement.
1) "Customers subscribe to the app for a monthly fee, ranging from $7.99 to $19.99"
IOW, a digital inmate-phone ripoff.
Yes the phone systems are a rip off in prison. It sucks ass.
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.
This can be done with any form of communication. So you have one option, stop all communication with the outside world. I can tell you that is not a good option. Yes I have been to prison unfortunately.
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:
It doesn't seem to work. Prison populations are on the rise.
If only!
Yes, prisons protect society against criminals. The other main purpose of prisons is revenge, euphemistically called "retribution" by people in the legal profession to rationalize the harsh treatment prisoners receive. If prisons focused more on rehabilitation than on revenge, maybe there would be less recividism as people in prison get the support they need to leave their lives of crime. To this end, phone calls in and out of prisons might become free as prisons realize the value of prisoners connecting with loved ones.
Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
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.
Also known as "justice" or "fairness."
Many prisoners and their advocates believe they should be able to inflict costs, up to the taking of a victim's life, and incur no cost for it. However, as we compensate farmer for his costs, by paying him for his produce, rather than simply taking the fruits of his labor without compensation, many believe that an offender who maliciously harms others for some personal benefit should somehow compensate the victim.
Unfortunately, the costs incurred on the victim are often quite large, and the offender cannot pay in money. In the case of a stolen life, there is no more victim to compensate. Thus, out of a sense of shared sacrifice and fairness, a cost is imposed on the offender commensurate to the cost he imposed on the victim. If the cost can also deter/prevent the offender from harming others in the future, that is good for people who come into contact with the offender.
Like all the murderers
Someone loves this guy: https://www.thelocal.de/201505...
rapists
I sure as fuck hope someone loves these two guys, because they need something: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/...
robbers
If only someone had loved this woman who so clearly deserved to be in jail: https://www.wsbtv.com/news/tre...
violent criminals
It feels very likely that this chap's family loves him: https://www.foxnews.com/us/con...
criminals don't do those sorts of things, do they
Yes. Most criminals are productive members of society. Shit, you're a criminal too - good luck getting through the week without breaking the law.
so they can be looked after like little babies
Yeah, American prisons are all about loving care, afternoon naps and breast feeding.
make our neighbourhoods shitholes
The people living in a neighbourhood make it good or bad. You live in yours; guess who makes it a shithole.
So, if one of your kids makes the other one spill his drink you just pour them both out?
If a kid hits another kid, you punch them?
See the flaw?
Cheap storage VM.
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.
While I would acknowledge those are all noble goals for the 'job' of prisons, I would also include restitution to the victims of the crime. Sometimes that takes the form of imposing suffering in some way on the perpetrator. That reflects our basic sense of justice. Simply 'fixing' the problem to society does not satisfy our base impulse for fairness. If we don't want to have vigilante issues there is a need to make sure the victim is made whole, to the extent reasonable.
Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -- Susan Ertz
So we treat prisoners like animals in the hopes that they won't do the same to others!
We are not a smart society.
Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
thanks!
What's the saying, an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind...
Cheap storage VM.
Indeed, the Norwegian prison system focuses on rehabilitation and has incredibly low recidivism rates. So much so, that at some point they had prisons that were empty, if I'm remembering correctly. https://www.businessinsider.co...
There is certainly the question of culture—Norway is not the USA—but a capitalist system where many of the prisons are privately owned and have contracts for minimum occupancy with the state certainly only benefits shareholders and not society at large. Recidivism rates in the USA are high, and that's just how prison owners like it. Think about that for a moment: there's someone that owns a prison and honestly goes to sleep at night hoping people commit crimes, and implicitly, that there are many victims of crime. It's monstrous.
While I would acknowledge those are all noble goals for the 'job' of prisons, I would also include restitution to the victims of the crime. Sometimes that takes the form of imposing suffering in some way on the perpetrator.
That is, by definition, not restitution. Restitution is repaying or restoring what was lost, so that the net effect of the crime on the victim is zero. If you steal $100 from someone, restitution would be when the thief gives $100 to the victim. No amount of prison time can ever be restitution, since the victim doesn't regain anything that they lost because of the crime (I suppose you could argue the edge case of imprisoning someone with the ability to pay indefinitely until they agree to repay the victim, but the prison time itself isn't really the restitution).
What you're describing would generally just be called revenge.
"Factual opinion"? Jesus go sit in the corner and think about what you said.
I think you're viewing restitution too narrowly to limit it to material/financial interests, as recompense can take many forms. How do you feel about forcing a perpetrator apologize publicly? I feel like that's part and parcel to making the victim 'whole' via an acknowledgement of the crime against them, though forced public shaming would fall under the 'revenge' banner as well.
Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -- Susan Ertz
I think you're viewing restitution too narrowly to limit it to material/financial interests, as recompense can take many forms. How do you feel about forcing a perpetrator apologize publicly? I feel like that's part and parcel to making the victim 'whole' via an acknowledgement of the crime against them, though forced public shaming would fall under the 'revenge' banner as well.
I'm going by the dictionary definition:
1. reparation made by giving an equivalent or compensation for loss, damage, or injury caused; indemnification.
2. the restoration of property or rights previously taken away, conveyed, or surrendered.
3. restoration to the former or original state or position.
Or if you prefer a legal definition:
1) returning to the proper owner property or the monetary value of loss. Sometimes restitution is made part of a judgment in negligence and/or contracts cases.
2) in criminal cases, one of the penalties imposed is requiring return of stolen goods to the victim or payment to the victim for harm caused. Restitution may be a condition of granting a defendant probation or giving him/her a shorter sentence than normal.
A public statement would only be (partial) restitution if it reverses damage caused by the crime, such as defamation. Publicly apologizing for stealing someone's money doesn't return the victim's money.
Very well, it seems you're right about the meaning of the word as it's often (though not exclusively) used in a legal context. Here is the context in which I was framing my perspective: http://restorativejustice.org/...
Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -- Susan Ertz