Preston Thorpe, a 33-year-old American, is a remote developer for the database company Turso. But if he works exclusively from his computer, it is not because of the distance that separates him from San Francisco: the man is incarcerated in the Mountain View Correctional Facility, a prison in Maine, reveals TechCrunch.
At the age of 20, he was arrested for buying and selling drugs on the darknet. In 2017, Thorpe was then sentenced to spend fifteen to thirty years in state prison. He will spend the first few years serving his sentence in a New Hampshire prison. Shortly before the pandemic, he was transferred to the Maine prison where he is currently. It is within these walls that his life takes a decisive turn.
“When I came to Maine, it was completely different”he explains. To comply with health protocol, the young man is placed alone in a cell and has a lot of time to think about his future. “I told myself that maybe it wasn’t over; that maybe I could finally lead a normal life. I had a sort of enlightenment: “I will succeed”»he remembers.
From incarcerated man to recruited developer
Preston Thorpe decides to enroll at the University of Maine to take distance courses. In order to follow his course, he obtained limited access to a computer and taught himself programming (Python, C, databases, data structures, etc.), sometimes spending up to fifteen hours a day coding.
Around the same time, Colby College wanted to hire one of its incarcerated graduate students as an assistant professor. The proposal was unusual, but Maine Department of Corrections Commissioner Randall Liberty ultimately agreed. Preston Thorpe is therefore a graduate and a professor, from his prison cell. “It allows for a real diversity of opinions, thoughts and backgrounds. It’s an enriching learning environment”comments Randall Liberty.
Very active in the open source community, he contributed voluntarily to a project for the start-up Turso for around six months. Due to his impressive work, he caught the attention of the company’s CEO, Glauber Costa, who was quick to offer him a job in May 2025.
Thanks to these opportunities, Preston Thorpe says he is a changed man. “All these memories of the street and the reasons that led me to prison, I don’t even feel like it happened to me. I feel like it happened to someone else.”he notes. He must still serve at least seven years before he can practice his profession outside of prison, unless he is released early for good behavior.
