Digital technology can be used to slash prisoner reoffending rates - here's how
Prisoners are barred from using the internet. They are one of the few groups in society who live almost entirely off-line. For this small part of the population, using digital technology is a rarity so when they emerge from prison, they enter a world for which they are poorly prepared.
So much of our lives is now governed by digital platforms - apps, online services, smartphones, social media and more. Many of us would never leave our house without our mobiles. By contrast, the ‘recently released’ leave prison without a phone or access to the services one can provide.
Digital divide
A digital divide has opened, and this is a major challenge. It has the potential to entrench inequality and worsen reoffending rates, which are already incredibly high.
According to figures from the Prison Reform Trust, 47% of adult prisoners are reconvicted within one year of being released. For petty offenders serving sentences of less than 12 months, this increases to 60%. Prisons have revolving doors.
The financial cost to society is substantial. Ministry of Justice figures show that reoffending costs the taxpayer £18.1bn per year, to that we add the damage caused by crime itself to individuals, businesses, and communities.
The rapid growth of digital could make matters worse, but it could also be our salvation.
Smart prisons
We’ve known for years that education is the key to cutting reoffending rates. Most prisoners have poor or chequered education backgrounds and struggle to find employment. Crime is often regarded by the offender as an economic necessity, or they are simply drawn by a ‘lure to riches’ they could never reasonably expect to gain by lawful means. Drug offences, theft, robbery and economic crimes make up the bulk of offences - most are preventable.
Providing good education to over 87,000 prisoners across 115 crowded prisons is a major logistical challenge. Our prisons, many of which were built by the Victorians, contain few decent classrooms or learning centres. For an experienced and talented teacher, a prison class may not be an enticing prospect. And, of course, transporting people between cell and classroom is also a challenge in understaffed prisons.
In a white paper published by the Ministry of Justice in December 2021, a desire for a major overhaul of prisons was announced. The paper outlined the importance of “digital, data and technology” and “empowering prisoners” through the “safe and secure use of in-cell technology”. The idea of creating ‘smart prisons’ is taking hold in Whitehall. However, while this is welcome, there are big questions on how it can be achieved.
In-cell learning
Coracle Inside has found a way to cross the digital divide and bring education to prisoners. The company provides laptops to prisoners which can be used in cells.
It’s Virtual Learning Environment means prisoners can access content from major education providers such as the Open University, the Prison Education Trust, the Shannon Trust and Aim Awards. It also means prisoners can do simple but vital things like creating a CV or completing a food hygiene certificate.
Coracle’s system is completely offline, and prisoners receive their device with the content they require pre-loaded. Coracle’s team of prison-based support staff join the dots between prisoner and education bodies and, as a result, prisoners can end incarceration equipped with basic documents and with experience of using digital technology.
Post-prison services
The next logical step would be for freed prisoners to retain an online account which they can use during those early stages of reintegration. Education that began inside should not just stop, neither should support and mentoring. Creating online services for the recently released opens a world of possibilities.
Continued access to education, training and job opportunities is perfectly realistic and affordable when online services are being used effectively. Other post-prison services and the work of parole and probation officers could also do with a radical digital overhaul.
The lesson here is that, once we have helped people to cross the digital divide, there is great potential to reform and re-organise the lives of people who have fallen out of society’s favour. Prisoners are a huge cost while they are on the outskirts of society - so let’s use digital technology to bring them into the mix.
This can be done through the expertise from innovative companies such as Coracle, alongside the IT design, infrastructure implementation and management skills offered by global providers such as Computacenter. Together, hand in hand with TechUK, we can drive transformative change and reduce re-offending rates to their minimum.
This article was written by James Tweed CEO of Coracle Inside and Philip Pearson, Client Director at Computacenter.
Authors
James Tweed
