Leaving a prison as a free person is a feeling that many of us probably don’t know and probably don’t want to know. However, for those who know the feeling, it’s more than just that. After serving a long prison sentence, you come back to a world that has changed at breakneck speed, especially in terms of digitalisation. That’s exactly what happened to a client of Twitter user Maria Burnett. After a long prison sentence, he comes back to a world full of Zoom, emails, web addresses, etc. without even knowing what those terms mean. A Thread:
1/6:
A thread: My client got out of 30 years of prison about 6 weeks ago. Since then, people have been telling him that forms he needs are on the web or that they would email something to him. A few days ago, he shyly admitted to me that he doesnt understand what any of that means.
— Maria Burnett (@_MariaBurnett) March 9, 2021
2/6:
I got him a laptop & we spent a day this weekend going over everything, the diff btween cell service & wifi, between texts & email, where to find which thing on a phone vs on a laptop. He got comfortable asking «What is the WIFI password here?» & entered it in the right spot.
— Maria Burnett (@_MariaBurnett) March 9, 2021
3/6:
Everything about the laptop was hard–the icons & cursor, the touchpad, hovering over something for options, closing and opening tabs. Then we made Zoom meeting links, found links in emails, opened Zooms, we muted and unmuted, turned on and off video. We drank a lot of coffee.
— Maria Burnett (@_MariaBurnett) March 9, 2021
4/6:
Everyone – including DC social services offices – assumes he has figured all this out, that he can function in a digital world, during a pandemic, without a crash course in this stuff. I felt so guilty for presuming he would just figure it out solo…
— Maria Burnett (@_MariaBurnett) March 9, 2021
5/6:
and I feel guilty for not even recognizing how much there would be for him to learn, and how much it took for him to admit his confusion. When he was in prison, he sent me emails but Corrlinks is not the same as a laptop on your own with no limits and yet, no help.
— Maria Burnett (@_MariaBurnett) March 9, 2021
6/6:
Last night, he finally joined his first Zoom of his life on his own laptop-to join a group discussion of recently returned citizens. He clicked along, reading bits to me as he went & SUCCESS, he officially Zoomed as a free person. A small but confident step into the digital world
— Maria Burnett (@_MariaBurnett) March 9, 2021
