Arbitrary Timeouts and the Art of Antagonism

Hey, readers!

I had been hard at work, writing a blog post poking fun at our games library, but I ran afoul of an arbitrary timeout!

You see, when you're drafting a message on the tablet, you have 24 hours from the first time you hit save to complete that draft.
The timer does not walk forward if you come back six hours later, edit, and save again: it remembers the first time and sticks to it. So, to extend your timer if you aren't done, because you were writing a long, thought out message, or needed to find someone with a dictionary to help you spell antidisestablishmentarianism, or you had to wait for your media funds to show up to buy a stamp, or for any reason, really, you must copy your entire message and start a new one, saving it to restart the timer.

Maybe I'm dense, but what valid purpose does it serve to erase my draft after 24 hours?

Picture this:
A resident starts to write a heartfelt message to a loved one late one evening on the tablet. Tired, they hit the Save Draft button, put the tablet down, and fall asleep.
The next morning, the Wi-Fi is down. This blocks them from opening the messages app. Wi-Fi is down for two days.
When the Wi-Fi returns...

In the current setup, that whole letter is gone.

Gone is the heartfelt message that they started two days prior, and capturing the same feeling doesn't happen. Frustrated, they stop writing.

In an ideal, more like real world setting, the message is dutifully waiting for them once Wi-Fi returns. Elated, they pick up where they left off, and happily send their thoughts and love to their loved one beyond the wires.

Now, I'm sure the reasoning is to "curb illicit activity", but erasing the message after 24 hours instead of, say, keeping potential evidence if there were really any wrongdoing going on would make sense...

<sense making detected>

"If you wrote on paper, you wouldn't have that problem!"

Let me introduce you to a game that FDC plays with inmates, called 💩 Flipper. No relation to the wonderful folks working on House Flipper.

At any time, for any reason, we can have officers barge into our two-person toilet bedrooms, and positively wreck our meager belongings, with no recourse offered for unnecessary intentional damage. That means if you were working on your case, trying to go back to court and be exonerated, but they destroy your paperwork...
Well, your paperwork was destroyed. Tough 💩.

Never mind the letter you were writing to your partner, your care network, your parent.

"It's gone, 🖕🏽."
- FDC

Intentional antagonism of an already sequestered individual has the negative effect of teaching them to defend themselves at any cost.
This is why we have people who continue to lie, steal, and cheat behind these fences: too few give enough of a damn to model the behaviors they wish to receive, and too few understand the garbage in, garbage out concept to encourage others to join them in modeling those behaviors that are good!

But what do I know? I'm just an enby robot behind the concertina wires, and I've never worked with humans before. :')

🤖

I'll wrap with the following as I hope the facility doesn't enter a random lockdown : I would love it to see people in prison treated with human decency.
Some of us may be here for horrible crimes, but the likelihood that we've abandoned our humanity is low. Please try treating us as humans, deserving of a chance to learn better behaviors, not like a disgusting thing on the bottom of your boots.

The results you get shall be better.

Take care. :)

(Editors Note: Shortly after sending this, the facility was placed on a 72h lockdown and communication lines were cut)