Inmates use contraband cell phones to take Harvard CS Course

[Maniac Craniac]

Harvard professor says he gets thank-you notes from prisoners, some of which are secretly using smartphones to take his free computer-science class

Prisoners are using smartphones to access online classes, and at least one Harvard professor told Insider they even send him thank-you notes from time to time.

The Marshall Project reported on the rise of secret smartphone use amongst prisoners, and talked to one inmate who said that he leads a group message of around 300 other prisoners learning computer science using an online course from Harvard. The group message includes prisoners in other states, the inmate said, and they use Harvard's CS50: Introduction to Computer Science course materials that are available for free online.

"There are a bunch of schools that do that, but I find Harvard's are the best, and that professor — David Malan — I think he's one of the best," the inmate said, adding that the course is self-guided and self-graded.

This warms my heart. I'm excited any time people in difficult situations manage to access education. Especially when it's self organized like this.

This is what prisoners SHOULD be doing. The fact that they have to break the rules to take some free courses to better themselves is a huge missed opportunity.