[cbanek]

First off, that sucks for your friend. I would hope they would be able to learn programming. I think the policy should be changed, but I'm also not even sure if it's a policy, or if different prisons get to make those decisions.

I think one of the logistical issues is I'm not sure prisoners have great internet access, in terms of either time, size of things downloaded, or having a persistent space to store their own data, if it's on a public computer. I'm not sure for example if they are allowed a laptop in their cell, or something like that. Probably not?

Makes me wonder if there's a way to compile resources on a USB drive that would have the software required, and the books / knowledge, without necessarily accessing the internet, and a place to store files on. Kind of like a class on a stick.

[bdcravens]

Most prison systems will not give the inmate access to a computer to write code, and definitely will not let them keep a USB drive, etc. The books you'd want to send would need to be those that could be followed without access to a computer. (A friend I sent Hartl's Rails tutorial in print was frustrated by errors in the print version that weren't in the online version)

[school_lunch]

yeah, almost no internet access other than a very constrained mail client (think aol instant messenger but with captcha and 4 hour delays) that can be accessed in the library on a single computer. Also, this doesn't allow access to the START button or anything like that. I'm guessing it's an old windows desktop that they've setup so it can only access this one website. I'm sure a clever engineer could get around this but like, is that really what they're afraid of?? It's not like the inmates don't have visits and phone calls, in addition to the actual email client, to send their "Coded Messages" or whatever, so it's overly cautious IMHO.

but I digress... There's no capability for this currently but I think an education program could be instituted where they are given unix computers with no internet access and can learn basic command line, or perhaps ubuntu with a browser and no wifi card so they can learn to locally develop websites.