Could you keep yourself occupied in prision?

[Independent voter]

Barret Brown is a journalist who is associated with Anonymous somehow. There was a cyber crime committed, Barret Brown got caught up in it, the FBI was called in cause the crime crossed state borders, you don't f'ck with the FBI, Barret Brown commited more crimes as he fought against the FBI, his mom concealed evidence--

Yada, yada, yada. Barret Brown is in jail serving 63 months after a plea bargain. You can read about it here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrett_Brown

Any way he wrote this article where Barrent Brown says he can keep himself mentally occupied in prison, no internet, for years if need be. He plays board games with other prisoners.

My thought was: what if you can't find any reasonably intelligent fellow prisoners to play with? Maybe I'm being biased.

No internet? I don't think I could get by without internet.





Real long ass article at the link written by someone with too much time on their hands

https://theintercept.com/2016/10/16/...es-if-need-be/

never really got a chance to play any pen-and-paper role-playing games growing up, so being thrown into a prison system in which such things as Dungeons and Dragons are relatively common constituted one of the silver linings of my 2012 arrest, along with not having to deal with an infestation of those little German roaches that had colonized my kitchen or having to see “World War Z.”

nywho, after that first FBI raid I started reading those little guides on life in prison that one finds online and noticed several references to role-playing games. When I got to the jail unit at Federal Correctional Institution Fort Worth shortly after my arrest, then, I immediately started agitating in favor of a campaign of Dungeons and Dragons or whatever was available, to begin ASAP, with the wooden table in the little corner library to be requisitioned for our use. A huge black guy awaiting trial on complicated fraud charges happened to have the basic mechanics memorized; I drafted him to be the dungeon master. Soon enough I’d also managed to recruit a white meth dealer who was familiar enough with the game to help the rest of us create our characters, a large and bovine Hispanic gangland enforcer who wanted to try the game and was at any rate influential enough to help us secure control over the table, and a fey Southern white guy for atmosphere.

With unlimited paper and pencils provided by the federal government, we had everything we needed except for a set of variously sided dice. It turned out that this was generally handled by making a spinner out of cardboard, a paperclip, and the empty internal plastic tube from an ink pen. This latter item is impaled loosely on the paperclip, itself positioned in the center of the cardboard, on which has been drawn a diminishing series of concentric circles divided into 20, 12, 10, 8, 6, and 4 equal segments, respectively. As we attended to this chore at the wooden table, an inmate sitting nearby realized what we were making and proceeded to tell us about a cell mate he’d had during a previous bid who’d used something similar.

ventually I made it back to a prison where I could depend on keeping books and papers for an extended period of time and was able to resume my experiments, which have lately culminated in a highly complex new hybrid medium in which I oversee some 70 fully realized characters as they pursue their blood-soaked vendettas against one another in accordance with the several handwritten pages of primitive, dice-based behavioral heuristics I have devised for them. Their entire world is limited to a map I’ve drawn on graph paper and taped to my wall, their stage confined to my cell’s steel wall-mounted desk on which I have created an elaborate city consisting of dozens and dozens of buildings, vehicles, vending machines, trees, dogs, rats, surveillance drones, and dwarves — a small world, yes, but one of extraordinary depth and intrigue. I make the pieces out of cardboard tea boxes, drawing and then coloring them with very sharp pencils, and I don’t mind saying that I’ve become very good at making itty-bitty tea box people over the last year or so. Indeed, I tend to spend the late evenings hunched over a metal locker, drinking tea and creating new and more elaborate and ever more delightful little city dwellers; it’s a civilized pastime that makes me feel like a cultured Chinese gentleman-scholar. At any rate, it’s certainly a lot more fun than I had on the outside trying to get the newspaper people to do their fucking jobs and follow up on things like Team Themis.

Which reminds me of one more funny story. Aside from HBGary Federal and Endgame Systems and an obscure junior partner firm called Berico, there was one other corporation that completed the Themis private black ops outfit, which, you’ll remember, was caught plotting illegal hacking and disinformation campaigns against journalists and NGOs with the connivance of the DOJ. That firm was Palantir, where at least a half-dozen employees were shown to be involved in Themis by email threads in which the plans were formulated — among them, the firm’s lead counsel, Matthew Long. Another email indicated that Palantir’s CEO was also made aware of Themis. Palantir’s most demonstrably active participant, Matthew Steckman, was put on leave pending an “investigation” into his conduct but he was quietly brought back on after the press lost interest. Today he’s head of business operations and works in D.C. No one was indicted in connection to Themis except for me, and then, later — when I refused to cooperate with law enforcement against other activists — my mother, who was charged with obstruction of justice for moving my laptops to a kitchen cabinet to hide them from the FBI agents who were congregating outside her house, waiting to execute a search warrant on behalf of the government agency that I’d angered with my investigations into the criminal conduct of its corporate partners.

The chairman and co-founder of Palantir is Peter Thiel — the same man who more recently funded the lawsuit that destroyed Gawker, a media outlet that had angered him, and who served as the final speaker at the Republican National Convention. His firm continues to work closely with the U.S. intelligence community.

[Ryme]

I'd read and write, play games with other inmates, it would suck but I'd manage I think.

[Aeula]

Need more info, different countries have different rules about what you can keep in prison. Some prisons let you have computers and games consoles, so that'd be pretty much me covered.

If I'm stuck with board games it'd depend on what board games, do I get to play Yahtzee? Or will I be reduced to a self-harming nutjob because I had nothing to do but play monopoly?

I suppose I could also take up writing, but I'd need inspiration.

[Blobfish]

I'd read and write, play games with other inmates, it would suck but I'd manage I think.

Play games with other prisoners and it would suck..

hang on, thats got me thinking ewww.

I know which cell Bubba would head to

[Independent voter]

Need more info, different countries have different rules about what you can keep in prison. Some prisons let you have computers and games consoles, so that'd be pretty much me covered.

If I'm stuck with board games it'd depend on what board games, do I get to play Yahtzee? Or will I be reduced to a self-harming nutjob because I had nothing to do but play monopoly?

I suppose I could also take up writing, but I'd need inspiration.

If you can have computers and game consoles in prison, that would cut out a lot of the negatives about prison! Maybe they have a nanny filter in these prisons so you can only serf CNN or something.

[Rotted]

Read and write tbh, but if we're talking some serious shizzle where you wouldn't even be granted that,

I can keep my self entertained in my head. Although 63 months of doing that, would be enough to send anyone insane

I guess I'd also work on my martial arts, I'd imagine there would be enough space to do on the spot stuff

[Aeula]

If you can have computers and game consoles in prison, that would cut out a lot of the negatives about prison! Maybe they have a nanny filter in these prisons so you can only serf CNN or something.

Here's a pretty comprehensive list of which countries allow what when it comes to internet. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_prisons

I'm surprised that article even exists, but yeah. Overall it sounds pretty restrictive.

[caervek]

Of course loads of things to do in prision, join a gang and make new friends, play some sports, visit the gym, showertime fun, mealtime fun, shank the snitch, explain to everyone that you are the daddy.

Loads to do.

[Shadowferal]

What little experience I know of is from others I worked with from PA and NJ (ex-cons were part of the workforce here)
County prisons were always little more than sit and do nothing.
There are no books.
There are no writing implements, or paper to use beyond very flimsy toilet paper.
No pcs...so no reason to have internet.
There was a television set placed high near the ceiling that was turned on in the common room. (You're watching what the corrections officer puts on. You could ask nicely to watch <insert show>.)
And though some may not believe it, there really isn't any violence going on. (Sorry, for those that imagined that tv shows were actually true)

But county prisons aren't supposed to be for years long sentences I think..

I've no knowledge of state prisons beyond hearing that such aren't nearly as "pleasant."

[I Push Buttons]

Probably not, but if I were to go to prison I wouldn't have much choice.

[ParanoiD84]

No problem, been jo jail several times when i was younger and my uncle been to prison more then half he's life, you get to play video games and watch tv, only Playstation one though or atleast was before.

You also get to work inside prison here to earn a very very small amount for when you are released.

Plus you get to hang out with friends if your lucky and end up with people you know.

[Rudkobing]

Well, considering you might be beaten up, raped, or become somebody's girlfriend. I think that would be more than enough to keep you occupied.

[Shadowferal]

Well, considering you might be beaten up, raped, or become somebody's girlfriend. I think that would be more than enough to keep you occupied.

Not in county prisons. Kinda peaceful...too much so. There's nothing to do except wait for the tv to get turned on.

[snaek]

I think I'd have no issue occupying myself tbh. One of my passions is learning, whatever it is about. If I have access to a library I'll have things to spend time on. And considering Norway has one of the best prison systems to be imprisoned in (allegedly) I'd probably enjoy my stay too.

[Gracin]

If you can have computers and game consoles in prison, that would cut out a lot of the negatives about prison! Maybe they have a nanny filter in these prisons so you can only serf CNN or something.

Here's a pretty comprehensive list of which countries allow what when it comes to internet. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_prisons

I'm surprised that article even exists, but yeah. Overall it sounds pretty restrictive.

Even if that particular prison he was in allowed computer access to inmates, he wouldn't be allowed at all. When you have been convicted of cyber crime(s), they generally don't fuck around and let you play freely on the net.

OT: It would be hard for me for quite a while to be without the internet. Not so much to entertain myself, because I could just go back to reading heavily. My biggest problem with not having access to the internet is not being able to answer all the annoying little thoughts my brain comes up with. Who was that actor? What year did that song come out? Where have I heard that quote before? Etc.

[Deleted]

I would use the time to learn some new skills I guess.

[Xenyatta]

I'd draw, read, take courses in something if it were available, work out, sleep, do whatever my job was, play games with other inmates, movie nights... you can keep yourself occupied very well without internet. This generation just never had to ever do that.

[ItachiZaku]

Blood on my knife or shit on my dick!

[Fencers]

As long as I could read and/or write I don't think I'd get too bored.

[Ayla]

Give me tv, or give me death. If I didn't have my own tv, I'd likely just kill myself. Being alone with my own thoughts is awful.