MOUNTAIN VIEW, Maine — At the Mountain View Correctional Facility, some inmates are spending their days on laptops, working remote jobs for companies across the country instead of traditional prison assignments.
One of them is Preston Thorp, a self-taught software engineer who codes for a San Francisco-based tech company from inside the Maine state facility, NBC News reports. Thorp, who described himself as a longtime drug dealer before his incarceration, said the work has given him a sense of direction he didn’t have before.
“I have a purpose now,” he said. “Prior, I had nothing going for me.”
Thorp is part of a group of about 40 inmates who work remotely in various industries, according to NBC News. At least three other states — Kansas, Ohio and California — also allow some inmates to work remotely, but Maine corrections officials say they have pushed the concept further by tying the jobs to education and case planning.
Maine’s Department of Corrections requires participants to meet several benchmarks before they can be considered for remote work. Inmates must complete higher education coursework and follow individualized case plans created with social workers. Only then are they approved for carefully monitored internet access.
The work can be lucrative. According to NBC News, at least one inmate has reached a six-figure salary. Under Maine law, however, that income is partially redirected. After taxes, 25% of earnings go toward restitution for victims and 10% is set aside for prison room and board.
Corrections leaders say that structure directly connects remote work to accountability.
“If people really care about victims and survivors of crime, that are owed money, the way that we do that is we provide meaningful work for individuals who are incarcerated so they can pay down those debts,” Maine DOC Commissioner Randall Liberty said.
For Thorp, the job has done more than cover bills. He is earning enough to plan for a home purchase once he completes his sentence — an outcome he said he never expected when he first entered prison.
“He’s doing the work that people with 20 years of experience can’t do,” said TURSO CEO Glauber Costa.
Thorp is nearing the end of his sentence and expects to leave prison with both employment and savings. Another inmate, Ryan, is only halfway through a 42-year sentence but is also using the program to prepare for the future.
Ryan earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree while incarcerated. He now provides remote tech support, including building a system that uses AI to create support tickets and reporting his work through Slack.
He will be in his 60s when he is released, but said the job is helping him fund and plan for that eventual transition.
“I feel like I started my life in here,” he said. “The transition is going to be much softer.”
Thorp said his view of what’s possible after prison has shifted as well.
He once believed he would never have a family or a normal career. Now, he said, “all those things are within reach.”
How do you see remote work fitting into modern correctional rehabilitation efforts?
