If you think your V is for Vendetta mask will hide your identity, think again. The Pentagon has a laser device that “can pick up on a unique cardiac signature from 200 meters away, even through clothes,” reports MIT Technology Review.
Scaremongering, pals. All forensics is mostly bullshit to begin with, and even if this works as stated it takes 30 seconds on a stationary target so uhhhhh yeah. Dont feed the paranoia machine.
The more likely use of this is as “evidence” for framing folks the state decided was already guilty, not actually catching anyone.
So right.
The FBI's facial recognition software still misreads 1 in 5 colored people's faces but we're supposed to be scared into believing some laser technology can legally and legitimately recognize us through masks?
Give me a break
We all know the deal. They don't need to prove it works because it'll point someone out to them, most likely a person of color, say they're the one the officers are looking for, and whether it's wrong or right they'll make the evidence and the statute fit that person whether they're guilty of a crime or not. They don't care if it works.
Technology in the hands of police forces of all kinds are just a way to legitimize their random arrests of people they imagine to be guilty of a crime whether or not it's true.
Every year, thousands of people in Pennsylvania prisons write directly to nonprofit organizations such as the one I co-chair with a request for reading material, which we then send to them at no cost. This free access to books has dramatically improved the lives of incarcerated individuals, offering immense emotional and mental relief as well as a key source of rehabilitation.
But as of last month, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (DOC) has decided to make such rehabilitation much harder. Going forward, books and publications, including legal primers and prison newsletters, cannot be sent directly to incarcerated Pennsylvanians. Instead, if they want access to a book, they must first come up with $147 to purchase a tablet and then pay a private company for electronic versions of their reading material — but only if it’s available among the 8,500 titles offered to them through this new e-book system.
In case you forgot: Incarcerated people are paid less than $1 per hour, and the criminal-justice system disproportionately locks up low-income individuals. Adding insult to injury, most of the e-books available to them for purchase would be available free from Project Gutenberg. And nonpublic domain books in Pennsylvania’s e-book system are more expensive than on other e-book markets.
This policy, part of a larger trend of censorship in state prisons around the country, should alarm everyone. Not only does it erect a huge financial barrier to books and severely restrict content, it also dehumanizes people in prison.
The changes in Pennsylvania follow an unprecedented lockdown in the state’s correctional facilities during last month’s national prison strike. The Pennsylvania DOC argues that these new policies are necessary to prevent contraband drugs, especially synthetic cannabinoids such as K2 from entering prisons after a string of incidents in August involving staff reportedly being exposed to contraband substances.
But this argument doesn’t hold up. Based on the DOC’s incident report, out of the 60 staff members exposed to unknown substances, only six tested positive for drugs. The DOC has also published examples of contraband drugs they have intercepted, none of which came from free book organizations. It is, of course, important to protect staff and inmates from exposure to drugs, but the DOC is purposefully exaggerating the risk to push their draconian policies. The DOC should instead focus on real security risks and addiction treatment, not further collective punishment.
In addition to the financial barriers, this policy also severely damages an incarcerated person’s ability to fully reenter society. Not only do organizations such as mine provide education material such as GED and SAT study books, textbooks, nonfiction books and business and trade books, but many organizations also send individualized workbooks designed for self-improvement or focused on the needs of minority populations such as LGBTQ inmates. The list of available e-books is missing some of the most requested books, including dictionaries, textbooks, graphic novels and books focused on incarceration issues such as “The New Jim Crow” and “Illegal to Legal.”
By using their time in prison to prepare for reentry into society, incarcerated people have a greater chance at living a productive life and their time in prison is enhanced through reading as a form of self-improvement. Books-to-prison organizations also offer inmates connections with the outside world, as people request books over and over again, often sending personal updates, drawings and sharing their stories. These connections cannot be replicated by e-books or ordering a specific book through the DOC.
Perhaps more alarming is that the head of the Pennsylvania DOC, Secretary John Wetzel, is president of the Association of State Correctional Administrators. If Pennsylvania’s policies remain in place, other states are sure to follow suit. Increasing literacy and education should be an essential part of the correctional apparatus, but by imposing financial barriers to accessing books and restricting content, Pennsylvania is failing to serve the greater good.
Another example of modern slavery. Placing barriers to majority black and brown filled prison inmates from reading, learning and bettering the conditions of their lives. It's just another level of Neoliberalism and the enrichment of the Capitalist Class reaching further and further into our society.
It's fucking disgusting
Abolish the police
Abolish ICE and all the alphabet boyz
Abolish Prisons
Heartbreaking
The criminal injustice system is a horrible thing to go through, but it’s outright terrifying if you’re a black American. This whole fucking system needs to be dismantled from top to bottom and no officer or District Attorney who’s ever worked in that system should ever be allowed to participate in a new system.
End Racism
Abolish Prisons
