Prison Reform Takes the Spotlight at SXSW Online

Can New Technology Provide Solutions to Outdated Prison Communication Systems?

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christopher beasley

 

christopher
beasley, Ph.d

University of
Washington – Tacoma

keri blakinger

 

keri
blakinger

The Marshall Project

alex peder

 

alex
peder

Corrio

carrie wilkinson

 

carrie
wilkinson

FORMER DIR, CAMPAIGN FOR PRISON PHONE JUSTICE, HRDC

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COMMENTS FROM sxsw users

There appears to be very little motivation to improve the environment and the recidivism of the prison system. Oftentimes, the paradigm shifts in an industry have to come from outside the current system to encourage change. If Corrio can provide a nudge to begin this process, it may shine a light on an area that society prefers to ignore and we can see real improvement.

MARC

Continued efforts to increase the technologies available in our country’s prisons and jails, as well as making them affordable, is critical to the ability of inmates to stay connected to their families and support groups. This not only reduces recidivism as studies have shown, but also maintains critical family ties, especially for the millions of children of the incarcerated. Prison phone justice campaigns to reduce the costs inmates and their families must pay to stay connected have new hope for regulation with the upcoming shift in the partisan Federal Communications Commission due to recent election results. Additionally, cutting edge technologies such as those developed by Corrio need to be implemented to enhance the more traditional methods of communication. Elimination of the monopoly contracts between prison telecoms and prisons and jails is the first step towards bringing prison communication and other technologies into the 21st century. Ready access to to communication, education, books and publications, telehealth, and other services is a critical step to being able to meaningfully address the problem of recidivism.

Carrie 

I recently watched “13th” on Netflix and it helped me see how significant of a problem we have with our prison system. We need to engage in more discussion, bring more awareness to the problems, and promote the adoption of new solutions, especially those from the tech community.

Steve Groenier  

Prior to the pandemic, there had been a steady erosion of access to the law and courts for prisoners. Prisoner filings serve as a “check” on the dysfunction and abuse in the nation’s prisons (which abuse in prison is common), yet, while prosecutors have experts available to help prepare their cases, prisoners receive a boilerplate form and many are required to make hand written copies of legal cases. Now that the pandemic is in full force, prisoner access is further diminished and what little access there is must be considered in the context of “safety and security of the institution”. That likely means contactless access for research, preparation, filing, etc. However, communication technology is more than up to the task of both restoring legal access and that is part of the reason I am intrigued by this technology.

Stephen Doyle