Policy

Ohio Jail Shows Pirated Movies to Entertain Inmates Jailed for Pirating Movies

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Move over, Jose Canseco's diapered goats. Here's yet still even more evidence that we are all living in a Philip K. Dick fever dream.

From Cleveland.com:

The Lorain County Correctional Institution acknowledged Friday that pirated movies are being shown to prisoners there, even as inmates serve time for illegally downloading movies.

Richard Humphrey, 26, of North Ridgeville was sent to the Lorain County prison in February for a parole violation and remained there until May 6. According to a post on the site torrentfreak.com, while he was a prisoner guards showed inmates "Ride Along" and "The Wolf of Wall Street" before they were released on DVD.

He was on parole for a charge of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, to which he pleaded guilty in 2010. A year earlier, he pleaded guilty to criminal copyright infringement in federal court for selling downloaded movies before their commercial release.

Humphrey served 29 months for his pirating. Maybe he can visit the guards who oversaw him.

A spokesperson for Lorain County Correctional Institution Warden Kimberly Clipper said prison officials are aware that pirated movies are being shown to prisoners and the issue is being investigated. But she said she couldn't comment further because the investigation is ongoing.

By the same token, I think Humphrey deserves to be thrown back in the slammer for this bon mot:

"How do you expect someone to be rehabilitated when there's authority figures that are running those institutions that are copyright infringing?" Humphrey said.

Whole story, courtesy of Deirdre Hall, an SEO specialist who punched the right buttons on this one!

Humphrey has a video up about this story that's worth watching: