
San Quentin high-tech incubator forges coders, entrepreneurs - kawera
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/12/10/san-quentin-high-tech-incubator-silicon-valley-the-last-mile-code7370-chris-redlitz-beverly-parenti/77093164
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seibelj
One reason I prefer college graduates to the self-taught / bootcamp types is
that the college grads had years to let the concepts simmer in their minds.
This is because of time. You can't cram for 8 weeks at a bootcamp and truly
understand things, it takes years.

But a prisoner, all they have is time. All the time in the world. Someone with
a passion and desire to learn to code while locked up, and with access to the
correct resources, could really learn this stuff and learn it well. I hope
this spreads.

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encoderer
> self-taught / bootcamp types

You've cast this net a bit too wide I think.

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zupreme
This type of thing is long overdue but it's important to understand why real
effective training for post-incarceration employment is not already the
standard in the USA.

Regardless of what the books of law and public policy may state, in practice
prison in America is punitive not rehabilitative.

When politicians talk about getting tough on crime they aren't talking about
putting in place more effective rehabilitation programs. They are talking
about harsher penalties from a punitive perspective.

Therefore the biggest barrier to whether or not this type of program can or
will be successful and widespread has more to do with whether or not this can
be done while still making the prisoners "pay for their crimes" to the
satisfaction of the politicians and the public at large.

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pmorici
This is great that they are giving these people a chance to learn marketable
skills so when they get out of prison they can stay out of prison.

At the same time the following passage makes we wonder if a big component of
this might be tech companies looking to exploit these people for cheap labor,
"starting next year, Code.7370 graduates will earn as much as $20 an hour
writing code for businesses outside the prison walls through a new non-profit
Turn2U Inc."

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manigandham
Prisoners in California get anywhere from 10 cents to perhaps 2 dollars an
hour for working. Those at > $1 have rare good jobs, most are under $0.50.
There are also special positions like fire fighting crews that get paid more
but this is even rarer. Overall making $20 or anywhere near it is a massive
increase from where things currently are.

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kayman
What prisoners get paid might seem slow.

In the documentary Angola, the warden makes the case for paying prisoners so
little. It costs x dollars/year to feed and take care of a prisoner.

A working prisoner helps provide part of that income reducing the burden on
the state, in turn the tax payers.

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manigandham
I'm not disagreeing.

My point was that their current rates are so low that the increase is huge,
especially given the other costs involved in them being prisoners. It's not
cheap labor at all.

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jmspring
Honestly, I'd be tempted to put in time helping on similar programs. But the
question raised in another post re: "graduates earning X through a non-profit"
does beg the question of how this is set up.

Might be worth looking into how Turn2U Inc is set up.

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adrtessier
Assuming Turn2U Inc is legitimate, I'd gladly offer some of my time to work on
programs like this as well.

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nullc
Forges might not be the best choice of words.

