Latin America: International workshop on technologies for prisoner rehabilitation Silvia Bernardo July 31, 2018

Latin America: International workshop on technologies for prisoner rehabilitation

More than fifty participants from the technology and correctional fields – including penitentiary system officials, technology developers, entrepreneurs, and experts in prison management and rehabilitation – were asked to contribute with their knowledge and experience.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Headquarters, in Washington D.C., USA, was the venue for the International Workshop “Improving Lives in Latin America and the Caribbean – More humane prisons: people-centred technological solutions for rehabilitation”, taking place on July 30-31, 2018.

The event sought to brainstorm and conceptualise technological products that could contribute to more effective and humane prison management and rehabilitation programmes in Latin America,  counted with the participation of Pedro das Neves, IPS Innovative Prison Systems’ CEO.

IDB specialists regret that, despite the urgency of the problems of prison overcrowding and scarce prisoner rehabilitation programmes in Latin American, they are not at the centre of public debate.

This organisation trusts that technologies can serve as a link to life outside prisons and that they can help in prison management and better decision making,

Virtual reality to simulate experiences in the outside world, mobile learning environments that give inmates access to new technologies and education in subjects such as programming, preparing them to rejoin a digital world, and digital therapy as a way to bring psychology to prisons were some of the technological solutions that have been discussed at this IDB event.