The UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has overhauled its networking technology to better support staff and prisoners.
The Ministry said it is on a journey to transform prisons in the UK, “to create institutions that are able to deliver twenty-first century penal requirements.” This has meant overhauling ageing infrastructure, paper-based processes and staff-dependent services replacing them with digital-first, prisoner-facing services.
It is working with Juniper Networks as a part of a strategic digital transformation across more than 400 probation sites and prisons in the UK to deploy a cloud-native, AI-driven microservices architecture. This means prisoners can now use their devices for administrative tasks and to access important information from their cells. This helps develop greater self-confidence and improved behaviour, said the MoJ.
Granular policy control enables the MoJ’s IT staff to give prisoners controlled access to the internet from their designated devices. For instance, the IT team uses the Juniper Mist dashboard to quickly identify unapproved Wi-Fi devices connected in the prison and mitigate them immediately.
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“Prison rehabilitation is changing challenged lives in the UK, improving many prisoners’ futures and helping them to get on the ladder of opportunity in preparation for their return into society and so reduce instances of reoffending,” said Nava Ramanan, deputy director, UK Ministry of Justice.
“We are delivering great user experiences, and there is so much more potential to leverage with the intelligence in Juniper Mist. We’re just getting started with technology that enables rehabilitation to better prepare our prison populations for a much brighter future.”
Jamie Pitchforth, head of strategic business UKI, Juniper Networks, added that organisations can harness the power of AI to overcome challenges, make smarter decisions and transform user experience in the digital age.
“They can leverage the power of data to deliver real change that benefits society and create a new paradigm,” he said. “In the case of The MoJ, when prisoners receive access to technology, it can be both life-changing for self-esteem and transformational at a practical level, helping with their mental health and the ability to rebuild their lives and use their experiences to make a positive difference for those around them.”
