Keeping the mind active.

Well, hi!

Today's thought is shorter than most that leave the head. Namely, it's about the handheld computer in my hands that I'm using to share these thoughts.

So we have tablets running NotBeepBoop 7.1.5, likely remembering its Nougaty 'goodness' from yesteryear. Aged hardware from 2020, if the stamp on the mainboard I can see is accurate.

I poke fun at the age in a non-serious manner because I know the hardware can be plenty capable for what inmates might wish to do, and I have been a proponent of reusing aging or low power hardware for tasks that you might not expect out of them.

What I would love to see adopted are the following: - Inmate desks with tablet docks and larger input devices - Distance education opportunities offered via tablets - Additional communication opportunities that include real time text chats

Let's pluck those apart!

Inmate desks with docks

A docking station for inmates to use for typing messages to family and friends in a more accessible way would free up the display of its on-screen keyboard.

If they then offered a word processor and a way to send those documents to family, friends, publishers, etc., this could encourage inmates who like to write to actually write their heart out.

Given that our messages to the world are already moderated, adding moderation to those files would be a relatively trivial task.

It may be harder to implement this depending on how poorly laid out prison dorms might be, but it'd be a step in the Norway direction once implemented.

Distance education

We are here for a while, full stop. Use the tablets to facilitate educational opportunities! Whether it's a refresher on algebra and geometry, or learning a language with a group of inmates who might all benefit from someone that understands English is a thief that stabs other languages in dark alleyways to steal their kidneys, or even pursuing a higher education to learn how to run their own food cart without it imploding on them financially, now is the best time to invest in success!

Unless things have changed in the last year, a person with a college degree typically gets better interest rates for loans than one without. If someone behind the wires wants to, say, run a food truck selling kombucha and sandwiches when they get out, those couple of points of difference in interest on the loan they need could make or break them.

I'll have the hibiscus lime kombucha with the tempeh and sprouts sandwich on whole grain, extra brown mustard, my eminently successful friend. :)

Real time chats

Some of us find it easier to communicate by text, period. My hearing being what it is, puts me in that group. To their credit, the State allows video visitation via our in-dorm kiosk, but I would have trouble hearing my loved ones -- I would be sitting with a phone receiver mashed against one ear, a finger jammed in the other ear, side-eyeing the camera and saying "Sorry, could you repeat that over the roar of the jet powered toilet?" for the hour I'd get.

Now, the kiosk already has a keyboard, so no hardware changes are needed. Video visitation is very likely monitored and recorded (to curtail the free flashes of female flesh folks fawn for 'round here); it'd be just an extra step to put a text box on screen and monitor that communication vector. It would also address an accessibility angle for other inmates who are hard of hearing. Plus, at the end, downloading the chat session to the tablet to read over would go toward embracing the love of our friends and family who are free. It'd be like a joint letter we wrote together.

Happiness. It goes a long way toward keeping inmates calm and defusing tensions.

Boredom is the real enemy behind the wires, and I have seen the brutality it unleashes.

Give us something to focus on, and a better opportunity to not come back -- we don't want to be back here. Just don't shortchange us, please.

I figure this is where someone would plug their SubscribeStar or Patreon, but I have neither of those. Instead, maybe look into the various projects that help prisoners with getting books, finding pen pals, and so on.

Be good to each other, take some time for yourself, and rock on. :)