In December 2019, violence erupted at the Mississippi State Prison in Patchman, Mississippi, resulting in the death of one inmate and injuries to several others. Since then, 28 inmates in the Mississippi prison system have died as a result of widespread violence, suicide and lack of medical care. In the days following the initial riot, many inmates tried to use smuggled mobile phones to enter prison walls and upload videos and photos describing their current conditions.
After officials learned of the leak, the images and videos uploaded by prisoners were stopped. In response to public concerns about the video, Parchman used a cell phone jamming system. In addition to ensuring inmates don't have access to their cell phone data, the Mississippi Department of Corrections has access to cell phone detectors, wands, K-9s, and networks. However, with living conditions and adequate staffing affected, the department has been struggling to control mobile phone smuggling and further control access to social media.
For the past three months, I have been personally involved in these proceedings due to my history of litigation discovery. My company is a legal technology company that uses cloud technology to facilitate legal work. I think technology or the lack of it in prisons is a key issue that doesn't get the attention it deserves. While I worked on this project as an expert, I was shocked by what I witnessed, and the results have left me disappointed with the state of technology in American prisons today.
Other parts of the country, such as the Baltimore Jail and Lee County in South Carolina, have implemented or tested controlled cell signal jammers. According to FCC guidelines on "Combating Prohibited Cell Phones in prisons," the technology circumvents the boundaries of legality.
Some prisons in the United States are already adopting technologies such as artificial intelligence. For example, LEO technology is used in some areas to mass monitor prisoners' conversations on the phone. These software use speech recognition technology, semantic analysis, and machine learning to create searchable databases of monitorable keywords.
The intelligent system is impartial in its treatment of prisoners, eliminating bias. Taken as a whole, it seems like a safe way to use technology to control order in prisons while monitoring inmates and guards; However, the use of the system raises certain ethical questions.
Even more troubling, these concerns are not limited to security. The lack of technology has been shown to extend to the question of whether prisoners receive adequate medical care. A report by the PEW Charitable Trusts cites a Rand Corporation study that found "inadequate or non-existent electronic health records" as a potential problem in ensuring inmates receive adequate treatment.
In addition, many reports have concluded that lack of access to technology can also lead to recidivism. In a recent investigative piece by Mia Armstrong, Slate interviewed countless prison officials who concluded that the lack of technology in all of America's prisons poses an almost insurmountable barrier to people returning to the "free world."
With all the positive outcomes of AI and other emerging technologies that we are seeing in the business world today, it is only natural that the use of such technologies should be considered a viable option to improve the situation facing correctional institutions. However, it is important to remember that access to technology cannot replace basic human needs for adequate and clean facilities, access to clean and safe drinking water, and equitable safety regulations.
There are many initiatives to bring rehabilitation reform into this century. Unfortunately, private prisons are still a problem in the United States. In my experience, the profit dynamics of private prisons reduce the focus on prisoner rehabilitation and shift the focus to the benefits accruing to private companies. I think this has created a vicious cycle that limits useful resources for prisoners and protects the important bottom line of private companies.
From my perspective, there has to be a change in the industry. We must invest in the rehabilitation of prisoners, not profit from it, and commit to uplifting communities through technological advances, current global professional training, and appropriate medical care. We have a great opportunity to use technology to enhance rehabilitation rather than profit from punishment.
Big changes have to happen before useful and beneficial technology can be used in prisons. As a member of the technology community, I think it's critical that we recognize this issue and give it the attention it deserves. We have the knowledge and technology to make a real difference in rehabilitation. While this is only one piece of the puzzle, it can make the prison system better.
