Incarceration has historically been about punishment but recently the trend has shifted towards reform, schooling, and an entrepreneurial spirit. In this report, we look at trends in prison experiences, technology, as well as edtech and entrepreneurship in prisons. Prisons are increasingly enabling inmates to get a vocational training, degrees, and even healing. No longer are inmates looked upon as "less than human" but there is a curiosity about their minds and views that are pro-reform so that they integrate well into society on their release. We then forecast three scenarios on mass incarceration in 2040.
3. Top twenty countries with the highest
prison population
The US holds the largest amount of prisoners and a recent study finds that the total
cost of incarceration is over $1 trillion.
Source: International Center for Prison Studies, Retrieved on Sept 26, 2016, http://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/prison-population-
total?field_region_taxonomy_tid=All
4. In the US, there is a trend of rural areas
sending the most people to jail
For a crime such as selling drugs, a
prisoner in an urban area, such as
San Francisco, would receive a jail
term of 0 to 3 years.
However, for the same crime, a
small county like Dearborn, this
person would be imprisoned for 35
years.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/02/upshot/new-geography-of-prisons.html
5. In another part of the world, prisons are closing
down because there are not enough prisoners
The Netherlands has an exceptionally
low incarceration rate of 11,600
people, which is a rate of 69
incarcerations per 100,000 people.
Whereas the US has a rate of 716
incarcerations per 100,000 people.
“A number of factors underlie the
Netherlands' ability to keep its crime
rate so low, namely, relaxed drug laws,
a focus on rehabilitation over
punishment, and an electronic ankle
monitoring system that allows people
to re-enter the workforce.”
Source: http://www.techinsider.io/dutch-prisons-are-closing-2016-3 Andreas Matern Flickr Creative Commons, Source: https://flic.kr/p/a5GCY
6. Historically the prison has been a place for confinement
and punishment, but that is changing
While prisons exist across the world
where the inmates are housed in
terrible conditions, historically, this
has changed to allow the prison to
evolve into a space that can be
reforming and transformative. In
Finland’s Kerava prison, “criminals
are treated more like people than
forces of evil.”
Source: http://www.techinsider.io/the-amenities-of-nordic-open-prisons-2016-5
7. Creating a more meaningful experience
through prisons
Architecture firms are coming
together to design prisons that help
inmates lead a more meaningful life.
Prisoners at Las Colinas Detention
and Reentry Facility have had a
positive response to the design
changes. These include using large
windows, sound attenuation,
campus-style housing, open booking
areas, and integrated guard areas,
where the guards are in close
proximity to the prisoners.
Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/design/a16980/how-to-build-a-better-jail/
9. Choosing IoT solutions allow flexible
sentencing over confinement
Solutions that enable GPS
monitoring and house arrest claim
that “electronic monitoring reduces
incarceration costs from $70-80/day
to $4-9/day.”
This can help track nonviolent
offenders, without sentencing them
to jail, while also keeping society
safe.
Source: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2015/03/31/how-digital-
technology-can-reduce-prison-incarceration-rates/
Amy Guth, Flickr Creative Commons, https://flic.kr/p/6g4GHd
10. Prisons are a major market for
telemedicine
Doctors can diagnose diseases in
inmates without being present in
the prison at all. This way, inmates
also get access to specialist doctors.
“The Medical University of South
Carolina is using teleconferencing
tools to enable its doctors at its
Charleston hospital to examine
inmates remotely—and from
hundreds of miles away.”
US Army CERDEC, Flickr Creative Commons, https://flic.kr/p/o3mP5w
11. Big data mapping is used for finding new
approaches to crime
Chicago’s million dollar blocks
project uses data “mapping the cost
of incarceration, block by block,
highlighting the wasteful spending
and suggesting other, more creative
approaches to invest the money.”
Source: http://chicagosmilliondollarblocks.com/
12. Use of drone trackers to stop drones
from delivering drugs into prisons
With drone smuggling on the rise,
prisons are now a market for drone
trackers, such as Dedrone.
Dedrone’s tracker uses cameras and
sensors to identify drones and send
alerts and use a jammer to bring the
drone down.
US Army CERDEC, Flickr Creative Commons, https://flic.kr/p/o3myTASource: http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/24/technology/dedrone-drone-prisons/
13. Prisoners are increasingly becoming a
face on a screen
Keeping in touch with loved ones in
prison in the US is shown to be very
expensive, and has put families in debt.
“These fees are the linchpin in an
elaborate racket between
telecommunications providers, prisons
and local governments.“
Now video visitations are on the rise to
keep costs lower. Video visitations are
also used for contact with lawyers to
reduce the travel to the courtroom in
NSW, Australia.
Sources: http://www.techinsider.io/video-visitation-is-ending-in-person-prison-
visits-2016-5
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/youre-just-a-face-on-a-screen-really-the-huge-
technology-change-in-nsw-courts-20160914-grg2ow.html
16. Can prison be all about reform and
education, including earning a degree?
The Reset Foundation are committed to
ending the poverty-to-prison cycle by
creating an education system in the
non-profit prison they run.
“Reset recently hired an experienced
director of academics to develop its
curriculum, which will be customized
for each student-prisoner. The
organization is also on the verge of
announcing a partnership with an
established charter school to help run
its inaugural institution and provide
accreditation to graduates.”
Education is proven to be a very
effective means for crime prevention.
Source: http://nationswell.com/prisons-future-may-look-like-college-campuses/
Source: https://newsroom.cisco.com/feature-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1781546
17. Computers and Android tablets help prisoners
learn skills and find jobs when they are released
Curriculum can be delivered using wifi
on computers or tablets that are
tamper-proof, and prisoners are able to
go through self-paced instruction much
like the MOOCs offered by top
universities.
“A recent report by Rand Corp found
that inmates who participate in
correctional education programs have a
43% lower chance of recidivating than
those who don’t. In addition, according
to the research, their odds of finding a
job after release is 13% higher.”
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2015/11/23/female-prisoners-calif-
prep-life-outside-autodesk-degree/76112590/
18. A prison yard or startup office?
Cathrine Hoke, founder of Defy
Ventures, has imagined a prison that
offers entrepreneurship programs to
people with criminal backgrounds. For
example, an illegitimate business
operation can be translated to a
valuable business proposition.
“Hoke describes Defy Ventures as a
combination of online learning and an
accelerator program. When the
students are still in prison, they are
offered an average of 10 hours of
online and in-person training each
week.”
Source: https://defyventures.org/
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/15/defy-ventures-redefines-the-hustle/
19. The best thing we can do is figure out ways to nurture the
entrepreneurial spirit and the tremendous untapped potential
in our prisons, because if we don't, they're not going to learn
any new skills that's going to help them, and they'll be right
back. All they'll learn on the inside is new hustles.
- Jeff Smith, Lessons in Business from Prisons
Source: http://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_smith_lessons_in_business_from_prison/
21. Part 1: Experience Pods in Holographic
Reform Centers
The year is 2040. A prisoner, Daniel, in San Francisco is sentenced to 1 year in a
Holographic Reform Center (HRC) for drug trafficking, which is rampant in his
neighborhood. He is taken to the state HRC where he will undergo a flexible
reform program, which means he could shorten his HRC term depending on his
progress. The reform center has several inmates who spend much of their day in
holographic pods which have AI-customized reform programs, designed
specifically for each prisoner’s blueprinted life and crime records. Before
entering the pods, the prisoners go through an orientation program about how
they can derive the most from the various pods, therapeutic, educational, health,
transformational, etc.
22. Part 2: Holographic co-learning with
inmates
Daniel is allotted 50 hours a month in the family pod, where he can
holographically meet his family and connect with them. His family also accesses
his remote health checks, educational and transformational pods to get a
download on Daniel’s progress. Daniel’s family is also keen on his progress to
shorten his HRC term.
In the future, the Holographic Reform Center promises to offer families and loved
ones a collaborator program to co-learn along with inmates, such as Daniel, in
order to enable collective reform.
23. Part 3: Pre-Crime Prediction for
Transformation of Society
In an era where precrime predictors intervene in anticipating criminals of the
future, Daniel is aware that others in his neighborhood are also under the
scanner. In the pods, he is able to access data of the precrime predictors and look
at the life blueprints and previous records of future criminals, as he is on the path
to his own recovery.
Daniel is now receiving skills in the educational pods to train his mind to become
compatible with precrime predictors, which will make him highly capable of
meeting his dream - to run his own non-profit for community development in his
poverty-stricken neighborhood upon his release.
Along with precrime predictor data in his neighborhood, Daniel would be able to
make his neighborhood more secure.
24. Thank you
Content:
• Kalika Sharma
• Apala Lahiri Chavan
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@UXTrendspotting
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