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Yes—the story is real. In 2025, Preston Thorpe was working remotely as a software engineer for Turso, a San Francisco-based database startup, while incarcerated at Maine’s Mountain View Correctional Facility. He earned the opportunity after months of open-source contributions, but his access to remote work depended on an unusually permissive correctional unit. It was not a standard prison job or a benefit available to every incarcerated person.
The job came after months of open-source work
Thorpe’s employer was Turso, a San Francisco-based database company—not necessarily a company located in Silicon Valley proper. According to TechCrunch’s July 2025 report, he had contributed to an open-source project associated with Turso for about six months before CEO Glauber Costa offered him a job.
Costa did not initially know Thorpe was incarcerated. He learned about it through Thorpe’s GitHub profile and contacted him to understand his circumstances. The reporting presents the hiring as a decision based on visible technical work and a conversation about Thorpe’s background—not a symbolic hire made without evaluating his skills. Maine Public later described Thorpe as a senior software engineer; TechCrunch described his software-engineering role and development toward senior-level work.
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11There is a small but unresolved date discrepancy in the coverage. TechCrunch said Thorpe had been working full-time for Turso since about May 2025; Maine Public’s later report said Costa hired him in June. The sources do not reconcile the difference, so the safest conclusion is that the full-time role began around May or June 2025.
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Why remote work from prison was possible
Thorpe was housed in Maine’s Earned Living Unit, a less restrictive setting for people with a sustained record of good behavior, according to TechCrunch. The unit is associated with Mountain View Correctional Facility, whose residents may live under different custody levels and rules. Being at Mountain View does not mean every resident has the same privileges or access to remote work.
Technology access had expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic to support remote education. That infrastructure later made some remote employment possible. TechCrunch reported that about 30 people in the Earned Living Unit had remote jobs at the time. Maine Public later showed Thorpe working from his prison living area and reported that he took video calls. These accounts establish that the arrangement involved approved access in a specialized setting; they do not establish that he had unrestricted internet access.
The public reporting does not spell out the technical controls: it does not identify his laptop, explain the network design, say how credentials or proprietary code were handled, or specify what monitoring or production-access restrictions applied. It would be inaccurate to fill in those details by guessing. The key point is that an incarcerated employee still works within institutional rules, and employment access depends on continued authorization and the facility’s conditions.
Maine’s official Mountain View description identifies the facility as medium-, minimum- and pre-release, and lists education, vocational training, treatment and, in the minimum-security/pre-release unit, community work release. State law also identifies academic and vocational education, rehabilitation, work release and work involving public restitution among the facility’s purposes (Maine Revised Statutes, Title 34-A, §4102-B). Those broad purposes provide context, not proof that every program participant can take a remote private-sector job.
The path from learning to engineering
Thorpe was serving a prison sentence for drug-related offenses when he began rebuilding his life, as described in the reporting. During the COVID-19 period, he pursued remote college education through the University of Maine at Augusta, taught as an adjunct connected with Colby College, and worked with Unlocked Labs. That organization employs incarcerated and formerly incarcerated engineers to build educational software for prisons. TechCrunch and Jobs for the Future’s account of technology job opportunities for people with records describe how education and technology work helped prepare him.
Open-source projects mattered because they offered a public, inspectable record of what he could build. For an applicant whose conventional employment history is limited or complicated by incarceration, a portfolio can give a prospective employer concrete work to assess. In Thorpe’s case, that work preceded the offer; the story is not simply that a company took a chance on an unknown applicant.
Pay, deductions and the limits of what is known
TechCrunch reported that remote workers in the Maine program surrender 10% of their income to the state. Additional deductions may apply for restitution, legal fees, child support or similar obligations. The 10% figure therefore should not be mistaken for a full account of every deduction or for a precise take-home-pay calculation.
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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Maine Public later reported that Thorpe earned a six-figure salary and had bought a modest house. The report does not establish an exact salary, benefits, equity, tax treatment or net income. Those details should not be inferred from the phrase “six figures.” Nor should the report be treated as proof that every participant earns comparable wages.
Futurism reported that Thorpe received a 15-to-30-year sentence in 2017 and still had several years remaining as of its July 2025 coverage, subject to possible early release for good behavior (Futurism’s report). That was a snapshot at the time, not a current release prediction. The 2025 reporting also described him as being in his 11th year in prison; that, too, is a historical description, not an updated count.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the story says—and does not say—about prison work
The strongest case for this kind of employment is practical: a real job can provide income, skills, professional relationships and a more credible route to work after release. Remote work can also reduce the geographic and transportation barriers that keep people from jobs. Maine officials and advocates quoted in the reporting frame employment as a way to support rehabilitation, restitution, public safety and reentry.
But one person’s outcome cannot show that this model is broadly available or that it causes lower recidivism. Thorpe’s opportunity relied on a distinctive combination: education, prior technology employment, a demonstrable open-source portfolio, employer interest and placement in a specialized unit with suitable access. Many incarcerated people do not have comparable equipment, instruction, internet access or professional networks.
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There are also real questions about fairness and security. A prison-based worker can face interruptions, restrictions, transfers or discipline that an office-based colleague does not. Employers must consider confidentiality, account access and the handling of code or customer information. The reports do not disclose Turso’s specific safeguards, so they cannot support claims about how those risks were managed.
Finally, a relatively well-paid software job is far removed from many prison jobs in kitchens, laundry rooms or maintenance. Its existence should not be used to imply that prison labor in general is voluntary, fairly compensated or rehabilitative. The reported income deduction and possible additional obligations also complicate any simple story of an incarcerated person keeping a standard private-sector salary.
What remains uncertain
The verified coverage documents the arrangement in 2025. As of August 2026, the sources cited here do not independently establish whether Thorpe still works for Turso, whether his custody status has changed, what he currently earns, or whether the program operates in precisely the same way. They also do not publish the full eligibility criteria for the Earned Living Unit or the detailed security and employment terms.
The sound conclusion is narrower than the viral headline: an incarcerated Maine resident built a technology career through education, earlier work and open-source contributions, then worked remotely for a private software company from a specialized correctional setting. It is a genuine example of opportunity and rehabilitation—and an exceptional one, not a general description of prison life.
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