Big Brother: Monitoring Prisoners' Telephone Calls

Big Brother: Monitoring of Prison Telephone Calls If the First Amendment Rosetta Stone Store can't give prisoners unlimited phone access, surely the Fourth Amendment's protection from unreasonable searches and seizures can protect the privacy of the calls they are permitted to make. Not really, according to the courts. Except for an inmate's discussion with a lawyer, prisons are free to tap into personal phone conversations. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has pointed out that court cases stipulate prisoners can't expect the same privacy in jail as they'd be entitled to otherwise [source: BOP]. And, by the courts' logic, the security concerns constitute a reasonable search. In addition, because prisons make sure to give inmates ample warning that their conversations are recorded, prisoners haven't had much luck trying to challenge this practice [source: BOP]. Time & Life Pictures.Phone tapping is legal in prisons, and they routinely record inmates' conversations. Even though prisons are free to listen to telephone conversations, inmates still have managed to find clever ways around this surveillance. The Texas Offender's Handbook, for instance, clarifies that inmates must not talk in code or unintelligibly, which implies prisoners have attempted to do so in the past [source: TDCJ]. The Office of the Inspector General, Rosetta Stone V3 which oversees the BOP, has issued concerns that there isn't enough man power or training for telephone monitoring staffs to successfully tackle the amount of crimes that are committed over prison phones [source: Fine]. To help monitor calls, prisons can employ voice authentication technology, which verifies the identity of the person called [source: Tehrani]. Voice authentication involves recording someone's voice and saving it. From then on, when the prisoner wants to call that person, the technology can compare the sound of that person's voice (including, for instance, its particular frequencies) to the saved file [source: Gilhooly]. In addition, questions have come up in U.S. courts about whether an inmate is allowed to talk on the phone in a foreign language, since this could inhibit the prison's ability to monitor the conversation. Although it's a complicated issue, prisons have tried to accommodate the inmates by merely requiring that they get permission from an authorized social worker to talk on the phone in a language other than English [source: Farber]. A social worker can interview the prisoner to assess his or her risk level before granting the inmate permission for such a phone call. Even with big brother listening in, many prisoners have successfully circumvented his surveillance simply by obtaining a cell phone. We'll discuss cell phone use in prisons next. Surfin' the Web from the InsideSome would like to see prisoners gain access to the German Rosetta Stone Internet and argue that to deny them such a privilege infringes on their right of free speech [source: Johnson]. In England, some prisons have actually offered limited e-mail and educational Internet access to inmates [source: Ford].

Online education and the challenge of motivation

Getting an online education is both a very thrilling Rosetta Stone proposition and a challenging one as well. It is quite exciting to learn through a very new and non-traditional form of education and it offers a set of new challenges that would compel individuals to really immerse themselves in what they are doing. Unfortunately, even with an educational format as new as online education, the same old problems that plague students would usually crop up. The most common difficulty a student encounters is losing the motivation to continue studying. This feeling is further exacerbated by the unique environment that a student must contend with in an online education course. Being alone with no real classmates to act as real-time sounding boards and given the free rein to handle your time it becomes a challenge to really get into the groove of studying. Since online education classes are a new education format, it also does not possess many of the known support systems that we can find inside a traditional school structure. These support systems are what helps keep students motivated. The lack of social interaction can also be a significant contributing factor for online education students easily losing the motivation to study. Losing motivation is quite difficult because it could become difficult to stay focused on what needs to be done. Rosetta Stone V3 Losing the impetus to study will make it very difficult to prepare for exams or tests, complete assignments and finish projects. Motivation is what drives a person to study through the boredom, the tedium and the difficulties. Without motivation, the whole purpose of taking online education classes loses meaning. It would be just so easy to quit and stop taking the classes at the risk of losing the tuition paid for the online classes. For those who may be worried that they may lose their motivation, the good news is that it can be restored or reinforced. Below are some tips given by many education experts as a way of keeping motivated. One way to stay motivated is to identify a goal and work towards its attainment. Try to focus on small goals that can be easily fulfilled. You can mark off a calendar with daily and weekly goals that you are required to accomplish. As you fulfill each goal cross it out with a pen. This process helps you build up your pride in your accomplishments. Try to talk to other people about what you are learning in your online classes. This process is usually done with your classmates in a traditional school system but because of the nature of online education, you really do not have classmates in the traditional sense. What you can do is talk to family members and friends about what you have learned in your online classes. One other thing you can do is to try to arrange a chat with your instructor so that you can have some time to discuss the Rosetta Stone Greek subjects and/or curriculum with him. Try to be active in forums related to your course or classes. Even though there are no real physical ways of meeting fellow students in an online course most educational institutions that offer online education provide chatrooms or forums where you can chat with other people taking the same courses. These chatrooms or forums provide ample opportunity for different kinds of interactions with fellow students. You can use it to get to know other students personally and if you find one that lives near you, then you can probably arrange to meet with them regularly to discuss your subjects. You can set up online study groups that other students who taking the same course can use.