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Seeking Donations of gently used compute hardware, books, and relevant DVDs.

Hello!

The subject isn't exactly a joke, but it really should be.

I've been in this facility's technology vocation for quite a while, and we're using some old HP small business desktops with non-activated, non-updated copies of Windows 10 on board. These are used only to run the Remote Desktop Connection software to reach a server running Windows Server 2016 and its minimal install of software.

How minimal?

For our class profiles, we have the following:

  • TypingMaster Pro
  • Gimp
  • Inkscape
  • Blender
  • OpenShot Video Editor
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Google Chrome

As you should be aware, inmates are not allowed Internet access, so Edge and Chrome have little use for us beyond two parts of the class core framework (what we are supposed to learn in that classroom).

600 Hours.

That's how long we are supposed to be in that class to earn a completion and a certificate here at Blessington. However, there are several problems:

  • Assuming there are absolutely no interruptions (lockdowns, teacher work days, meetings, extended counts, instructor absences, etc), we can accrue 600 hour credits in about six months' time. However, we may have only spent 200-300 of those hours actually in the classroom: we are credited for six hours daily, but may only be in class for two or three of those.
  • The class is OPEN enrollment. No two students are at the same general point of study, and each one is tasked to learn at their own pace.
  • The framework I mentioned earlier has 47 major bullet points of things we are to learn. If we took the framework 100% seriously, and if we had the books, the compute hardware, AND the software to do it, you would absolutely have to remove every "I've never used a computer before!" neophyte from that room, and run them through a computing basics class: The framework assumes basic computing skills are already present.
  • Our enrollment is meant to be 20 students. There are 14 computer seats, of which eleven computers (that's ridiculous; it's not even funny) are functional.
  • A number of Chromebooks were added recently, but the limited subset of Coursera courses to which we were granted access makes bold assumptions that we have Internet and access to fully fledged compute hardware, with software to follow along with the lessons. We absolutely do not, which makes the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Python courses pointless. Further, the Chromebooks are only sporadically available, leaving higher learners stranded with no materials to work on.

LF Server, PST W/Details

One thing I'm aware of is that we're using a virtualized server, and sharing that instance with the facility's Law Library. If we had a server specifically for our class use, with hardware more robust than this server's reported Intel Xeon Silver 4208 CPU and its 32 GB of RAM, and full installs (including manuals) of free software that met our class needs, and if we switched to closed enrollment from this open mess...

LF Books, PST W/Details

... and if we had a selection of relevant modern books and eBooks that cover the materials we're asked to learn about troubleshooting software and hardware, about these things in general, about what's coming next around the bend of the pipeline...

LF DVDs, PST W/Details

And if we had videos, either on DVD, or (better still) as high definition videos downloaded from the Internet, showing us what's inside a computer, how to disassemble and reassemble a machine, how to do operating system installs and rescues, and other field-relevant material...

sudo ./configure --with-speed=great

I could see both the class throughput increasing, with more students completing the program at any given time, and more students being able to get into the classroom on a year over year basis.
This would empower more people who are trying to earn a trade skill for their return to the free world to have that chance.
It's just one positive step toward rehabilitation, towards building up a future neighbor that anyone would love to have.

After all, we stopped educating in prisons, and then wonder why recidivism shot up... but when you 'teach' someone that they're worthless, what else are they going to do besides shoot up? They're high, low, depressed, got a gun, whatever they 'know' how to do!

An important message to all of us behind the wires.

Unsubscribe from that feed that says you are worth less because you're in prison.
Subscribe to the fact that you are worth more** than what the naysayers try to get you to believe. Get your success by your own hands, fam.

As always, I welcome your thoughts! If you know someone who is looking to offload twenty desktop PCs, laptops, and/or tablets with keyboards and wants to take the opportunity of donating to a prison environment in the state of Florida, please chime in! I would love to see something positive happen to these gentles behind the concertina wire here.

-- Jayel