Prison Leavers Innovation Challenge
In April this year, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) launched its Prison Leavers' Innovation Challenge (PLIC), with the objective of reducing reoffending rates among prisoners. The MoJ invited technological companies to submit ideas for new and innovative solutions that could support its mission.
There are several factors that impede the prisoners' rehabilitation after their release from custody. One major cause is the difficulty for prisoners to access important documents required for them to access basic services like housing, employment, and financial support. The lack of ease to access their own documentation during their transition from prison to community can propel them back to crime.
Meganexus and SWIM have joined forces and proposed to resolve this gap by a Digital Wallet application, that will enable prisoners to store their important personal documents online. The solution will mitigate the loss of documentation typically experienced with the transfer of prisoners across facilities and in and out of custody. Additionally, an important feature of the solution is its robust consent model, which will empower the prisoner to take control of their data and share their documents only with people they have agreed to.
Meganexus and SWIM are pleased to share that they have been (among 9 other companies) selected by the MoJ to implement a Proof of Concept (PoC) of the Digital Wallet solution as the next phase of the challenge. Meganexus and SWIM are excited to be a part of this crucial initiative by the MoJ and are looking forward to providing an optimised tool that can support the MoJ in fulfilling its vision of reduced reoffence.
Meganexus and SWIM have started working on the PoC from the first week of September and have since been involved in several collaborative and fruitful sessions with the MoJ's teams and partners to enable the development of their solution. Meganexus and SWIM have been talking to frontline workers, policy, and technical teams from the MoJ to strengthen their understandings of the challenges and needs that the prison leavers face during and after custody. This was conducted in order to create a solution that considered the prison leaver's needs while also accommodating to the existing custodial technical landscapes of today.
Meganexus have worked for over 10 years with the MoJ developing their learning application "Virtual Campus" and are keen to further strengthen their existing partnership.
SWIM is a community interest company that empowers people in Hackney and its neighbouring communities to improve their health, well-being, and life chances. Its founder and CEO, Peter Merrifield, have been working closely with prison leavers for the past 15 years. Check their website on https://www.swimenterprises.com/
