California prison program teaches inmates about the Internet without letting them online

Most Americans use the Internet every day, many jobs rely exclusively on it, and many rural residents have to deal with the frustration of slow speeds, if they can get service at all. Still, they can usually use the Internet at work, school, the local library or other public places. But what's it like for an adult who has never surfed the web, or really even knows how it works? Many inmates serving long-term sentences who were incarcerated before the information technology boom took off, have never been online, and may not be prepared to use it when they are released.

U.S. prisons housed 1,571,013 inmates in 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Several Southern states with large rural populations have high incarceration rates; Louisiana is highest, with 893 per 100,000 residents imprisoned. It is followed by Mississippi (717) Alabama (650), Oklahoma (648) and Texas (601).

What do inmates who have never been online think it's like? Justine Sharrock, of Buzz Feed, decided to find out. She visited San Quentin State Prison in California, which has a program called Last Mile, launched in 2011. It doesn't provide Internet access, but "Through twice-weekly sessions over a six-month period, the program provides information and practical experiences to increase participant knowledge and awareness about the role of social media, build skills in relevant areas for employment in the high-tech sector, including communication, business formation and operations, and foster confidence and a sense of hope that they can succeed as free men," says the website.

One prisoner told Sharrock he thinks the Internet is “like pages that connect to other pages endlessly. I know [on Facebook] you can find someone if they list their high school or something, and click on it, but it doesn’t make much sense. I’ve seen apps on the Ellen DeGeneres show. It’s a button that leads you somewhere, like an Internet page, but in a quicker way.”

Another told her, "I’ve never seen the Internet in person. I was locked up in 1997. CDs were a big deal. I knew the Internet was called the information superhighway for a reason, but I had no idea how connected society really is through the Internet. I didn’t understand how big and new it is. It was a global name that has changed the world." (Read more)