too late to put it on the Common App, sadly

July 4, 2019 12:24 PM

The story of the high-school journalist whose scoop ostensibly stopped his school's use of prison labor forever (mostly in his own words, because of course he was willing to be interviewed for it).

The superintendent's press release: credible? Discuss!

posted by queen anne's remorse (10 comments total)

I love how the student has helped to shape future classes, too. As a teacher, this is always the best thing to happen.
posted by mumimor at 1:13 PM on July 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

"Prison industries programs, defenders say, provide incarcerated people with useful skills, prepare them for employment after their release and decrease their chances of recidivism."

They make it sound like an unpaid internship...
posted by SonInLawOfSam at 2:00 PM on July 4, 2019 [9 favorites]

Wow, what a great story.

I really liked the journalism teacher's guidance, and the last-minute info they discovered the day before publication. (No spoilers - go read the story!)

I am really glad I read this, and glad this happened. Thanks for sharing this, queen anne's remorse!
posted by kristi at 3:48 PM on July 4, 2019

"Prison industries programs, defenders say, provide incarcerated people with useful skills, prepare them for employment after their release and decrease their chances of recidivism."

"The slavery is good for them actually". Now where have I heard that argument used before...
posted by Reyturner at 5:49 PM on July 4, 2019 [2 favorites]

"Prison industries programs, defenders say, provide incarcerated people with useful skills, prepare them for employment after their release and decrease their chances of recidivism."

Adding to what Reyturner said, you can contrast this argument with the philosophy of the prison industry's competitor:

[...] the other vendor that had vied to reupholster the auditorium seats was the Wellspring Cooperative: a local organization that hires formerly incarcerated and other low-income people, compensates them well (up to $25 an hour, according to Spencer's article) and then makes them worker-owners of the business.

It seems obvious to me that even if "preparing prisoners for employment" were a successful means of encouraging ex-prisoner employment, actually giving them jobs will necessarily be more successful. It shouldn't even be an argument.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:45 PM on July 4, 2019 [18 favorites]

They make it sound like an unpaid internship...

Hey, upholstery is a tough industry break into. They're getting exposure!
posted by condour75 at 8:25 PM on July 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Great story, but themarshallproject.org page is sending a referrer tracker every second
posted by scruss at 8:50 AM on July 5, 2019 [3 favorites]

scruss, good catch. (For me it's more like every 45 seconds, but still.) Concerned parties can avoid this by copying the link into a new browser window and opening it there (the pings will still be sent, but they won't record referral information, or anything about MeFi.)
posted by queen anne's remorse at 5:06 PM on July 5, 2019

This great, this kid is great, and yay for a journalism teacher that let them do real journalism.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 12:44 PM on July 6, 2019

Hey, my high school! Of course everyone I knew there is retired or in the grave. But nice going!

The class I can't recall, but the concepts of "capital" and "surplus value" from 11th grade have stuck with me as an analytical lenses.
posted by away for regrooving at 12:11 AM on July 7, 2019