Many prisoners go years without touching a smartphone. It means they struggle to navigate life on the outside
You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy.
- You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy.
- We need only to look back ten years to realise how quickly things have changed.
- In 2013, we were still predominantly buying paper bus tickets and using Facebook on a desktop computer.
Unfamiliar tech damaging confidence
Prison populations are getting older worldwide for a few reasons, including general population ageing, trends towards people entering prison at an older age, or staying in for longer. At the same time, Australian prisons remain highly technologically restricted environments, mostly for security reasons. We interviewed 15 Australians (aged 47–69 years) about their experiences of reintegration following release from prison.
- They described feeling like a stranger thrown into a world where survival depended on their ability to use technology.
- Regardless of their experiences before imprisonment, the rapid digitisation of daily functions that were once familiar to them rendered their skills and confidence irrelevant.
- One former inmate said:
There’s a significant gap […] for anybody who’s done, I’m gonna say, probably more than five to seven years [in prison]. - There’s a significant gap […] for anybody who’s done, I’m gonna say, probably more than five to seven years [in prison].
Exacerbating recidivism
- There’s concerning evidence around recidivism, risk of post-release mortality, social isolation, unemployment and homelessness.
- Digital exclusion creates an additional barrier for those who are older, who already face a high risk of medical and social marginalisation.
- A former prisoner said:
Think about it, after being in ten years, well you think, okay, where do I start?
What can be done?
- The interviewees provided suggestions for how such programs could be delivered and a keenness to engage with them.
- They tended to focus on learning in environments free from stigma and judgement of their literacy level or histories, with hands-on experience and face to face support.
- Interviewees favoured learning while in prison, with additional support available on the outside.
- Based on the evidence, we can be certain this will encourage positive change for the 95% of Australian prisoners who will eventually be released.
Ye In (Jane) Hwang has received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the Australian Association of Gerontology, and the University of New South Wales Ageing Futures Institute for this work.