Navigating Re-Entry
Building technology skills to help system impacted women find vital support and access essential services for re-entry.
CHALLENGE
System Impacted Women do not have the adequate proficiency in technology to access essential services upon re-entry.
Women are the fastest-growing segment of the incarcerated populations across the nation, with 80% of women in jail being mothers [1]. To aid this population in the re-entry process, they need support to help with adjusting to their new environment and accessing essential services.
However, most essential services have moved to digital platforms (e.g., State Identification, Housing, Food, Medicaid) which makes them inaccessible to those who do not know how to use technology. Currently, there are few opportunities to build technology skills while incarcerated which makes it difficult for system impacted women during the re-entry process.
“[For women with children] most important things like communicating with child's teacher, making sure they have supplies - everything is online - putting money in their lunch account, buying uniforms. Even if they are getting a subsidy they still need to go online and check a box or fill out a permission form.”
- Subject Matter Expert on Illinois Justice System
USER NEEDS AND BARRIERS
Many participants indicated that they need exposure and learning opportunities on digital platforms to build trust and confidence using technology.
Based on interviews with 1 system impacted woman and a co-design session with two system impacted women, all who have undergone the re-entry process, and interviews with 2 subject matter experts on the Illinois Justice System, our team identified two key areas of technology skills a solution should focus on building.
Some system impacted participants struggled with privacy upon release because they were unaware about best security practices to keep their data secure.
Some participants said they felt uncertain when and who to disclose information to. Some women fear disclosing information (e.g. number of children, personal identifiable information) because of the negative consequences such as job rejection, social services and more.
System impacted women shift from one to many passwords. In prison, women are asked to remember and use one identifying passcode for all services. When they enter the digital world upon release, they are often not aware of best security practices or struggle to remember many unique passwords.
Many system impacted participants found the transition to using technology during re-entry confusing because they did not have exposure to digital standards prior.
Many participants tend to not know the right words to find the right information which can make it difficult to search for the service they need.
System-Impacted Women do not have experience navigating digital platforms for common activities like shopping, filling out forms, etc. prior to re-entry.
OPPORTUNITY AREAS
There is an opportunity to re-design the commissary experience to introduce essential technology skills and improve efficiency.
Commissary is a store within a correctional facility, from which system impacted women can purchase products such as hygiene items, snacks, or leisure materials. The current process is generally a negative experience for system impacted women because there is little choice or guarantee they will get the items they need or want. The journey map below created highlights opportunities in each phase of the current commissary journey to introduce technology skills.
Journey Map of Current
Commissary Experience
Figure 2: Journey map of System Impacted Woman’s current commissary experience. Created by Abigail Auwaerter.
TESTING AND REVISIONS
The prison system’s limited resources and concerns about security have prevented the implementation of existing technology-based solutions.
To test and further develop early concepts that sought to improve the commissary experience and introduce moments to learn technology skills, our team held a co-design session with 2 system impacted women. From this session we learned more about the prison staff and administrations concerns about new technology or solutions.
A solution needs to reduce staff's workload, never increase it.
From a co-design session with two system impacted women, the team learned more about the objectives and concerns of the prison and prison staff. During the pandemic, the prison staff tested a system where they would deliver items directly to inmate’s cells. However, this system ultimately failed because it increased the workload for the staff. A solution needs to consider how it might reduce the workload for prison staff instead of increasing their responsibilities.
A solution needs to find a balance between system impacted women’s self-efficacy and the prison’s ability to keep control of security.
The prison keeps security at its top priority in every aspect. The team learned that a solution that gave system impacted women too much autonomy or unmonitored contact with the outside world would never be adopted. Technology has been seen as a tool that would lead to a security breach. To address these concerns, it is important to consider how a technology-based solution could balance system impacted women's autonomy and the prison’s security.
Figure 3: Image from co-design session of reviewing storyboards of potential ideas.
FINAL CONCEPT
Cmart
An educational ecommerce platform that encourages system impacted women to build technology skills and build emotional confidence.
GOALS AND USES
Understand Security and Safe Ways To Share Information
Practice Authentication Methods During Order Pick-Up at Cmart Locker
Encourage the Development of Social Support
Leave Reviews and Ratings About Products Used For Community
Make Wish Lists of Items Needed for External Social Support to Buy
Learn Digital Standards and Practice Online Activities
Browse, Shop and Manage Funds on the Cmart App
Complete Educational Missions
Figure 4: Render of women's experience picking up an order from Cmart locker
USE CASE
Practice Authentication Methods During Order Pick-Up at Cmart Locker
This use case helps system impacted women understand security and safe ways to share information through introducing authentication methods during order pick-up. As opposed to the previous system, Cmart allows system impacted women to pre-order items and pick them up at Cmart Locker Hubs, similarly to Amazon Lockers. During the pick up process women will be asked to practice using different authentication methods such as personal identification number (PIN), tokens, and biometrics.
Figure 5: Workflow Diagram of User Picking Up an Order from Cmart Locker Hub.
Figure 6: Wireframes of Cmart Workflow in Cmart Tablet app. Created by Abigail Auwaerter using Figma and Photoshop.
Figure 7: Walkthrough of user experience while picking up order from Cmart locker.
VALUE EXCHANGE
Cmart introduces external stakeholders into the system to alleviate the workload on the prison staff while providing system impacted women more choice.
Figure 8: Value web of value exchange between stakeholders in Cmart system.
FINAL CONCEPT
With Cmart, system impacted women can learn essential technology skills to access services in re-entry while improving the overall service of the commissary experience.
Process Details
Role
Within this team project, I specialized in user research, strategy and interaction design. I organized and managed the data collected from in-depth interviews and co-design sessions to uncover insights and opportunity areas that understood the complex challenges of the prison system but kept system impacted women at the center. I also prototyped and developed the use case presented above using Figma, Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro.
Context
Rebel Health aims to provide personalized trauma care using technology, but system-impacted women must first acquire the skills to use digital solutions. How can we support this treatment cohort in understanding, trusting, and utilizing technology devices and applications, to overcome barriers and access essential services during the re-entry process? The outcome for this project was an intervention via digital interactions that will focus on building trust with technology to eventually assist those suffering from the effects of trauma and/or brain illnesses to receive the care they need to heal, regardless of their location.
Process
To ensure that system impacted women stayed at the forefront of designs, we used an iterative process that deferred to the lived experiences of system impacted women and the expertise of those working within the Illinois Justice System.
PROCESS OVERVIEW
References
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Dholakia, Nazish (2021). Women’s Incarceration Rates at Skyrocketing. These Advocates are Trying to Change That. Vera, Institute of Justice.