Digital transformation for prisons
| Published date | 01 September 2017 |
| Author | Victoria Knight,Steven Van De Steene |
| Date | 01 September 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0264550517723722 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Digital transformation
for prisons: Developing
a needs-based strategy
Steven Van De Steene
Smart Corrections, Belgium
Victoria Knight
De Montfort University, UK
Abstract
A digital revolution is upon our penal system – the inevitability of digital transformation
is set to shape the way justice is done and experienced. This article identifies some
important considerations for digital transformation in prison settings. There are some
small yet very promising initiatives in many jurisdictions, and in these early stages of
introducing digital technologies for prisoners and staff to use there are still some
fundamental barriers. Therefore getting it right within the secure landscape brings
further challenges for services. This article argues for prison organizations to develop
their digital provision that centres the end user at the heart of their transformation.
Keywords
digital technology, needs-based, normalization, prisons
ICT brings many different types of people to the same ‘place’; electronic media have
fostered a blurring of many formerly distinct social roles. Electronic media affect us,
then, not primarily through their content but by changing the situational geography of
social life. (Meyrowitz, 1986)
Corresponding Authors:
Steven Van De Steene, Smart Corrections, Belgium; Coordinator Technology Solutions Group, International
Prisons and Corrections Association (ICPA), Canada.
Email: steven@smartcorrections.com
Victoria Knight, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester LE1, 9BH, UK.
Email: VKnight@dmu.ac.uk
The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice
Probation Journal
2017, Vol. 64(3) 256–268
ªThe Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0264550517723722
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