Remote Working from Prison't

Hey, Daily Tech News Show crew.

My name is Jayel. I'm a non-binary prisoner currently held by Florida's Department of Corrections. Your Thursday, 24 July 2025 podcast, titled "Remote Working from Prison DTNS Live 5067" caught my attention on Friday as it showed up on the podcast app on the Securus tablet.

As an incarcerated individual in Florida, I can sadly confirm from behind the concertina wires of this state that we are indeed living in meat warehouses (hat tip, Rob @28:40, for stating this is an issue). Not only this, but we are not likely to be allowed to gain employment outside these walls unless you become eligible for Work Release.
To add insult to injury, certain charges make you ineligible for Work Release, meaning you serve your full sentence behind the fences instead of being able to leave for part of the day and work to smooth out the transition from Florida's Secured, Gated Bed and Breakfast Communities to your own place.

Rob @35:00 touches on another truth that I am witnessing from this side of the walls. When people are doing something with themselves -- learning, working, or what have you -- and, when they are able to earn something to show them that they are valuable, they are less prone to those violent interactions that people believe are the core staple of prisons everywhere.

I speak only for me and my observations, but I have this belief that most of us here just want to do our time (or less of it as we try to fight our cases) without receiving injury to ourselves or others. Might it be the case that improving our outlook on ourselves would result in less headaches for everyone involved: correction officers and Administration, Ourselves, and Our Cohort of Loved Ones who feed their hard earned cash into the maw of the great bellies of Keefe and ViaPath to buy us $1.29 packs of ramen and 20¢ per minute phone calls?

Roger does make a very good point @36:37; one size does indeed not fit all. Being a person who has served three years of a 15 year sentence, and it's their first sentence ever, I'm not that experienced in the prison system at all to know what Florida used to do. I also know we dwarf Maine's prison system by a heck of a lot in size

I just know that in this age of tele-everything, with a hundred prison camps in this state, a place could certainly be carved out to put trouble-free justice-impacted individuals who would like the opportunity to gainfully work, but may not be eligible for work release for some reason.

Just my thoughts on this, of course.
Thanks for reading, and for broadcasting. :)

Warmly,
Jayel