I don't think the kid will actually serve it out in prison though. The primary issue here seems to be that the kid is actively saying they will commit more crimes. No matter the crime, you can't really give a light sentence to someone telling you, in a court of law, that they will do it again.

The ideal would be that they rehabilitate him until he's able to be safely released with no fear of repeat offense, or at the very least, until the kid is smart enough to lie.

During Thursday’s hearing, the court heard Kurtaj “had been violent while in custody with dozens of reports of injury or property damage,” the BBC reports. A mental health assessment also found that Kurtaj “continued to express the intent to return to cybercrime as soon as possible.” He’s required to stay in the hospital prison for life unless doctors determine that he’s no longer a danger.

Sounds like dude has some stuff to work out mentally

If he's unfit for trial doesn't he wait until he can? That is beyond unjust on every which side unless he is that level of fucked up. What is life like in an NCR-type deal hospital for life?

Is it like a decent group home or where is he being sent to exactly?

You might try reading the article you posted then, because it says very plainly:

He’s required to stay in the hospital prison for life unless doctors determine that he’s no longer a danger.

The dude hacked Rockstar while in police custody for hacking other companies. They were transporting him and stopped for the night. They locked him inside a hotel room after clearing out anything that he could potentially use to hack. But they missed an Amazon Firestick in the back of the TV. Using that and his room phone, he hacked Rockstar, then when he was caught he told police he’ll do it again as soon as he’s released.

Yeah, the dude is compulsive. It’s an obsession for him.

because he’s destroying property,

Hold on while I dig out the world's smallest violin for the property of billionaire parasites.

Jesus. Don't lock this guy up, give him a computer and point him at Russia.

To be fair, that mobile phone is basically just a computer. I could my dayjob from a mobile phone too if I plugged it into dock with mouse, keyboard and a screen. Just a bit inconvenient

I think some of these evil corporations just throw up a number and expect people to believe they spent that kind of money.

I don't even buy games at release anymore. I wait for a sale or GOTY edition. I wish people would stop pre-ordering and wait for YouTube reviews and Twitch streams.

I didn't pre-order GTA V and watched it on Twitch. After about 2 weeks, went and bought it on PS3 with money I won from a football pool.

The NSA is about to buy him his freedom...

According to the article he was also found to be extremely violent while in custody, with several reports and issues. A lot of that is likely related to his Autism and should be noted. I also absolutely expect the reports are at least partially exaggerated in their wording.

That said: I do agree. Get the kid some therapy and coping skills and give him a nicely colored hat to choose from.

If they are going to go that way, no one will ever know.

Life in hospital because he publicly vowed to keep doing it while his trial was going on. That’s not a smart thing, that’s definitely not a sane thing. You apologize and move on to get out, you double down if you really like the food, white walls, and basic healthcare, or, you know, if you can’t stop yourself from saying so.

When you have a kid like this you fucking recruit them to work for the government and let him hack their enemies to his hearts content.

The use of "for life" here is extremely misleading and rage baiting. People around here shit on the media all the time, but fall for this clickbait hook line and sinker.

He's not been imprisoned "for life". He's been put in a hospital until deemed fit for release or to stand trial. Because he's literally destroying shit and hurting people/himself.

During Thursday’s hearing, the court heard Kurtaj “had been violent while in custody with dozens of reports of injury or property damage,” the BBC reports. A mental health assessment also found that Kurtaj “continued to express the intent to return to cybercrime as soon as possible.”

And yeah, we all like cybercrime around here when the kid does it to Rockstar, but he can just as easily do more damaging things to regular people, and that's a serious concern. If he can't control himself long enough to get through a trial, then there's no reason to assume he won't do more shit.

Yeah but it makes mega corporations look like the complete idiots that they actually are...the rich can't have their stupidity on clear display like that so they need to punish whoever.

This isn't about their shitty game anymore, they want to attempt to stop other smart individuals from again showing the world that this giant companies shouldn't exist and how utterly pathetic they are when it comes to security

That's a very distorted description of what's actually happening. The person (he's 18 so no longer really a "kid") had been violent while in custody with dozens of reports of injury or property damage, and continued to express the intent to return to cybercrime as soon as possible. Furthermore, the "life" sentence is only until the doctors think he's no longer a danger. It sounds like this guy is a real piece of work and the sentence is rooted in the goals of rehabilitation and protecting the public rather than some kind of retribution.