Bitcoin Forum

Has anyone ever heard of Bitcoins being used in jail?

Someone could easily have someone create them a bunch of wallets with a sum of coins they have on the outside, then have someone send them the addresses and the amounts. Then trade those addresses. Or, some people have people that visit them all the time and will take care of business stuff for people, and someone could just keep a ledger then have visitation and tell the person on the outside where to send what coins, and who else to contact so that they could get their share paid.

People reading this are like "How can you trust the person to actually pay", well in jail the person usually pays or the person finds some other way to get paid back.

Eventually, there could even be a coin made for this, and eventually petitions could be made for the institutions to start accepting it so that people don't do trading on the outside, unless they are on the outside.

It would also be good work incentive for prisoners if they made this themselves, premined it, and paid them with it. That way people could earn money in jail that they can use outside, as long as they play by the rules.

Most jails in the US don't allow internet access to inmates other than through a pre paid e-mail only system. You would have to get around "prison should be as painful as possible" law and order crowd to get any kind of reform.

I was not suggesting internet access.

If the prison were to accept it, what would happen is you would get a wallet when you came in. They would put that on a bracelet or whatever, and you would use that to buy things at commissary just by showing the guy your wrist so he could write it down (or scan it) and deduct that from the wallet they made for you, and you would have to have someone buy coins or mine for you, or you would have to do work to earn the coins that the jail mined.

This sounds shitty (more people would join inmate worker programs) , BUT you could leave jail with some money that might end up on the exchanges.

And to use Bitcoins in jail if they jail did NOT accept them, you would just trade wallets that have set amounts on them, or have someone (or a few people) on the outside move the coins around for everyone.

I'm pretty sure you could do it by snail-mail. Jailers have the ability to read mail going in and out, but I don't think they can censor it. In the US anyway.

Why use bitcoins when you can use cigarettes?

Are you suggesting Bitcoin replace cigarettes and blow jobs in prison?

bitcoin-hotep aka finshaggy

guys, dont spend much thought on this. finshaggy is known for his radical fantasy's..

i think basement dwelling teenagers who have just lost their computer privileges by their parents would be a better fantasy for finshaggy to dream about...

That is what I meant by using wallets that have money on them.

They retain value on the outside.

I don't think prisons would allow people in there to do this sort of thing, but I'm sure they could do it on the side. Many criminals actually run their gangs or ilegal activity from within jail.


e-cigarettes?  :D

I was not suggesting people buy blow jobs, lol.

The way it would work at first is you would just use coins to buy stuff to make spreads if you don't have money for commissary. Or for gambling.
Or for getting stuff to make wine, or just whatever.

no. No internet acess in prison, the old drugs, cigars and money bribes is already working great so far.

I don't think there's many prisons that let prisoners have internet access but I'm guessing people sneak smartphones in. Would be interesting if anybody is caught with one and sending and recieving payments in bitcoin.

You don't need internet, just wallets and someone on the outside.

Now adays, they would be using it to mine.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=674841

Without access to the internet they'd be better of just controlling regular money, or like somebody else mentioned about barterting with cigarettes and food etc. I can't see bitcoin being used in such a fashion tbh.

Ok, this is clearly the strangest thread I've seen in years.

AGAIN.
No one would need internet access.

And either someone would just have to keep a ledger, or trade wallets with set amounts. Which WOULD be like trading money. Like a .1 BTC wallet slip would be a thing.

And people NEVER saw bitcoin being invented let alone being USED at all, let alone in prison. lol. So you can't just say "I don't see that happening".

Why would they bother keeping a ledger when they could just use paper money or whatever. Keeping a ledger of bitcoin is pointless as it can easily be cheated. That's what the blockchain is for.

This should be classified under "cruel and unusual punishment" as far as I'm concerned. Denying inmates internet access in the information age is like denying inmates access to books in the pre-internet age. Terrible thing to do especially if prison is SUPPOSED to be about rehabilitation, not punishment.

How can it possibly be justified ? If you want them to have ANY job prospects at all when they get out, these people need to be internet-proficient or at least able to use the damn thing. Think about people with 10 or 20+ year sentences, they'll get out without even knowing how to use a computer.

Such cruel, discompassionate madness...

Maybe they can start accepting btc in commissary... Haha. Someone can send a letter to the governor of their state

To get money in jail you have to stick it in your ass or know a guard.
The ledger would just be so that the person could take it to visitation so the person on the outside could make the actual transactions.
And I actually suggested that a coin be made FOR this, and eventually that the prisons adopt it for commissary. Not for people to just use Bitcoin.

Bitcoin has a lot of benefits but I don't think being used within the prison system is one of them.

No, they just need to see that it moves easily through their system and they will want to adopt it just so they can make some money.

on the other hand, if you can just chill in jail and surf the web all day and get fed, why NOT be a criminal?
maybe they should get some kind of censored, limited internet.

http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/3d00edbd6090b062.jpg
A typical jail in Sweden.

Which guarantee can one prisoner provide to other person, that he will make promised transaction, if they have not any possibilities to certify it legally and officially? Some physical equivalent should be much attractive.

you sound like someone who is quite familiar with the system  :D

This is way better than the home of billions of people in the world




The prisons end up being more a way to get out undesirable people from the society and to scare people outside to make wrongs.

I think few people are interested in the reahabilitation.

Largely because there isn't a single jail or prison within US borders that allows either.  Your looking at disciplinary action if caught with them.  Although you might get slapped with some sort of crypto-gang related stuff if they find a BTC address with a private key in your cell too! Prison guards get real ansy when you start throwing stuff around that looks like it's encrypted.  For them it's a safety concern.

It is possible to trade cigs in jail as you can actually see and verify that they are there. With bitcoin you cannot really verify that there is actually a "balance" (unspent inputs) in a specific address without the internet and AFAIK there is no internet access in jail.

People have people on the outside do stuff for them all the time. No one would fuck around, unless they wanted to lose their teeth and catch a dick in the mouth.

But noone would be able to know who actually spent the coins if it turned out that that the address was "empty" as these kind of things likely are traded several times prior to someone actually using them.

Another issue is that the reason the cigs have value in jail is because people want to smoke them and are willing to pay a premium to do so. The only thing that you could really do with bitcoin in jail would be to spend it on the "outside" which would make it basically the same as cash.

Who cares? I dont think I want bitcoin to be endorsed as the official jail currency. Bad publicity.

I already said that eventually there should be a currency FOR this.

I admit that sometimes I think that criminals should be able to use the internet constricted and heavily restricted of course but to develop skills for when they leave the prison more along the lines of prison is a place for reform and opportunity than the hard line punishment group but I can understand both perspectives.

Hmm @ Jail
Do it in Sweden!

You obviously have never been arrested and put in to pop, or live in a lahlah land country where you have human rights in jail.

LOL
Are we now bragging about how many times we've been to jail? I feel no need to prove myself.

And, you aren't allowed to gamble in jail, but that doesn't stop anyone.

Did everyone here forget about PAPER WALLETS?!??!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!

Cold Storage!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!

We can not deny that great business takes over inside jails all over the world and i don't believe goverments can't or want to stop them so this could be a very great step for Bitcoin  8)

For sure, if it could get in to jails it would survive ANY regulation.

I haven't heard anything like this. I don't think any kind of currency is being used in Jail.

Apart from cigarettes and food, lol.

A pack of Cigarettes Surpasses Two Hand Jobs from news reports:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2IYIJc1f00

You would be surprised what an adicted smoker is willing to do for a pack of smokes in the crisis.
As far as bitcoins in jail are concerned, i realy dont see the purpuse.
Bitcoin should be a privilege, and not used by every peon.

Then how will it become the currency of the future?

And do you know how many wealthy people are in jail? There have been people in jail in El Salvador that called a hit and had someone killed in New York. That is not just some "Peon". In comparison, you are probably more of a peon.

The vast majority of people in jail/prison will have very few resources throughout their lifetime. They obviously have essentially zero income while in jail, but often are unemployed both before and after they get out. 

please ignore bitcoinhotep (aka finshaggy)

for atleast a year he has been in fantasy land wasting time trying to be part of something that he knows nothing about, meandering it into a fantasy land story, or a money grab event..

he does not understand that although there is a prison black market. the wardens like to keep control of the legit stuff (by controlling the dollar circulation research:Prison_commissary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prison_commissary))

also with the lack of internet use and even cell phone use, making qr code scanning harder, or atleast trying to whisper addresses to each other eg "one, uppercase A, lowercase s, uppercase R..." would just take too long, especially if they are on limited recreation time..

he needs to realise in reality.. the real world, planet earth.. that bitcoins are not really needed, or the right fit for prisons.. but because they are not fit for prisons, does not mean that bitcoins wont go mainstream


so just brush him aside and leave him in dream land

jesus christ
did someone actually say "they could use BTC...but keep a ledger" ?
like.............. and what every few weeks someone does the transactions ?

and did another tard  actually say "the prisioners could pre-mine some special jail coin" ?
like.... on a GPU they brought in some how.. connected to there secret rig.. ?

I think that your post alone, proves, beyond a reasonable doubt that any crypto coins would not be appropriate for a jail setting.

anyone smart enough to use Bitcoin, is likely a Christian and would never end up in Jail.  first off.

im athiest, but i have morals to not do anything that will land me in jail
but
DPR(silkroad), pirate@40, karpeles, zhou tong, amir taaki.. i dont think they are "christian" as you put it :D

this is almost as good as a couple of 100K studio in Sydney.

all sydney is missing is the 12 hour curfew that comes with their apartment block

"lockdown at 8pm-8am everyone must be in their apartments" :D

This is not at all true, and is very raciest. Since bitcoin adoption is widespread throughout the world I would assume that the religions of bitcoin users is also diverse.

In a society of slaves the free thinkers usually wind up in jail. 

i'm an atheist too.  but i believe in G-d.  call me sane, but there is no diference between the two

I don't think its' use in jail is much differ than any other digital money

I've been to jail twice this last decade.  And always got out the next day. What kind of crimes are u talking about?  All mine were misdaemeanors

well, people in jail do not have as easy access to electronic devices so that would not work. I mean if you print out paper wallets that could be transmitted between cellmates as "cash" but i doubt most people in jail are smart enough to use/understand bitcoin.

sorry, what ?

there is no economy in jail.  first off.

this "economy" is bogus and propagated on jail shows such as COPS and Jail and SpikeTV

how they can make transactions with outsiders, they need an internet connection and a few personal pc if they store in an offline wallet, but if it has a physical form. it is better

They use cash my friend so there wont be more trouble or second hand

Jail is similar to a mad max situation.

No internet, no bitcoin.

But I don't agree with no Internet for jailbirds.  If you've ever had to watch over kids, they become subdued once you give them a tablet.

They need a like button here.

for you, its a dislike button..

Another very good point. Not only is the average jail inmate uneducated, but also the only way to really trade bitcoin is with paper wallets but this defeats the purpose of using bitcoin in the first place

Did I kill your puppy or something? Why do you follow me around all negative?

That's more or less the way they already do commissary (only with USD instead of BTC.)  They give you an inmate number when you get booked in, your family puts money on your account, and money gets deducted whenever you buy something.  They're not going to want to use bitcoin because it's an internal system.  No need to fool with wallets, encryption, and broadcasting transactions when all you need is a ledger of how much money is on each account especially when there's only one place for inmates to spend the money (commissary.)  Plus there's no reason to give inmates an actual curreny when it's cheaper to just give them "JailBux" or credit for overpriced food.

Now the other way they could utilize bitcoin is to accept it as a way for families to send money to the inmates.  For the reasons I stated above, they would likely just credit the inmate for the equivilent amount in USD and put that in their commissary account.  However, even if they do this, it's not likely to reduce the cost of sending money or make it any quicker.  You need to understand just how many people profit off throwing others in jail.  In order to send money to an inmate you're probably going to have to go through a company like JPay.  I just pulled up a random prison to get their rates:

http://www.jpay.com/Facility-Details/California-State-Prison-System/California-City-Correctional-Center.aspx

The very least you're going to pay is 5% and that's only if you send $200.  If you only have $20 to send you're going to pay 20%.  These companies have deals with the state (or private prison) to be the sole provider of the money services.  They have a monopoly and there's no way they're going to let up on those prices.  In fact, if they do start accepting bitcoin, I can see them using an exchange rate that heavily favors them making it cost even more.  Just because the technology has improved, a company with a monopoly isn't going to drop prices.  Same with inmate phone calls... when everyone else got Sprint's 10 cents a minute long distance, inmates are paying up to $1 a minute.

The one place I can actually see bitcoin being used effectively is on the black market.  Basically the way it works now if someone wants to buy, say drugs, in a larger amount than is feasible to trade in food or stamps they'll tell the buyer's family to send money to the seller's family via Western Union or MoneyGram.  Obviously that's going to leave a paper trail and likely require the money recipient to show ID.  If they instead sent a bitcoin transaction, it would cut most of the paper and speed up the transit time so Smacky McInmate can have his heroin in half the time.

Do you run the bitcoin magazine or have anything to do with it, other than your username ?

I know, I have been to jail, that is why I knew what model to use. And I wouldn't expect the jails themselves to adopt the idea until the coins were too rampant for them to stop.

i commited a crime by talking to a musician at a bar, and asking to play his instrument.  the bouncer thru me out, and i walked back in.  felony trespassing (actually a misdemanor).  but i got to spend the night in jail..

Lol, exactly. I have never been in jail for doing something morally wrong. I have been to jail for smoking weed.

I really don't understand why so many people are advertising the fact that they have been to jail. This is really not something that people should brag about.

I am not advertising it. Someone said something about how it works in jail and I said "I have been in there, that is how I basically already had the system correct".

Why does everyone that hears someone talk about jail have to act like the person is glorifying it?

I have heard of the book '8 felonies per day' however I really do not believe the premise

aren't you only a felon if you are convicted ?
i would bet half the people saying that have been to jail are just trying to act tough.

Cigs are currency in jail.

as is a pretty mouth

I think there are plenty of people who've been in jail just overnight when they for picked up for being drunk or something and then it wasn't pursued through the courts. I've been to jail too (but only as a visitor, is what many are forgetting to add).

In any case this isn't going to happen. The government can't agree with what to do about bitcoin, they aren't going to let inmates start using it!