A man has been hired to work full-time at a San Francisco-based tech startup called Turso — while serving his 11th year in prison, checking into work from his cell.
As TechCrunch reports, Preston Thorpe was personally offered the job by Turso CEO Glauber Costa, who was inspired by Thorpe's story.
"I reached out to him in January, just to understand and get to know him," Costa told TechCrunch. "Since then, I’ve had deep conversations with him about his change of heart that led him to be in the position where he is today."
"Knowing his story increased our respect for him personally," he added.
In case you're wondering how a currently incarcerated inmate scored a cushy Silicon Valley job, you're not alone. Thorpe is allowed to work the job remotely from custody through an experimental program in Maine, the ultimate instance of remote work that transcends 30-foot barbed wire fences and a criminal record.
Depending on how you look at it, it's either an optimistic story of redemption and meaningful rehabilitation or the ultimate captive employee.
Thorpe ended up in prison at the age of 20 after getting caught selling drugs he bought on the dark web. After spending several years in prison, he was arrested within 14 months.
But during the COVID pandemic, Thorpe decided to turn his life around.
"I had this kind of epiphany: 'I’m going to make something of myself,'" he told TechCrunch via video call from prison.
Thorpe remotely enrolled at the University of Maine and was even hired later on to serve as an adjunct professor.
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