Tech for good - how offline laptops are supporting prisoner rehabilitation in the US and UK

While most jails seem to do a pretty good job of keeping people incarcerated, ensuring prisoners are safe or rehabilitating them effectively is quite another story.

But just under a quarter believe the same is true of maintaining a safe environment for them. In terms of rehabilitation efforts to help former prisoners turn their lives around, the figure fell to only 16%.

Unsurprisingly then, the most recent US Bureau of Justice Statistics study (2021) found that 66% of people released from prison in 24 states were re-arrested within three years. After a decade, the number rose to 82%.

A 2024 meta analysis of recidivism (reoffending within three years) data to come up with a US national average put the figure at more like 44%, although the accuracy of this data has been disputed in some quarters.

The consequences of poor post-release support

But whatever the reality, it is due to ...