Secure digital in-cell technology to support prisoners and other isolated learners

Covid-19 continues to have a major impact on the UK prison system. Our primary concern at this time of great uncertainty is the health and wellbeing of those in our most vulnerable communities. Prisoners have been unable to receive visitors, support from outside organisations has been curtailed, prisoner movements have been severely reduced and prison officer numbers reduced due to self-isolation. This has an adverse impact on prisoner education, mental health and wellbeing and put the prison system under increased stress.

Coracle is delighted to have been awarded grant support to help tackle the issues of isolation that are acutely seen within the prison estate and are grateful for the opportunity to be able to support HMPPS with the roll out of our innovative, patent pending "Coracle Inside" technology that allows prisoners access to in-cell digital education, without breaching security or allowing access to the internet. This support will let us build on the successful pilot testing facilitated by the initial grant and help us to make the system truly flexible, scalable and interoperable.

The recent initial pilot has allowed us to expand the range of different use cases and demonstrate the system efficacy in 10 prisons throughout England and Northern Ireland.

James Tweed, founder of Coracle said. "It's a well-researched fact that prisoners who engage in education are less likely to reoffend. Covid-19 has impacted prisoners access to education. One problem is any form of internet access is forbidden in prison. This severely restricts access to course materials and the digital tools that most of us take for granted, especially for those that are vulnerable or self-isolating. Coracle Inside laptops are issued to prisoners for use in their cells whilst ensuring 100% separation from the internet or any other devices. We allow syncing through patent pending Coracle Inside Hub, installed in a location with supervised access. The system has passed rigorous Ministry of Justice security testing and can be used to assist learners with any kind of course whether academic, vocational or self-improvement. We also support health, mental health and wellbeing programs. Our focus is now twofold -- firstly to further demonstrate the system to prison governors, prison education managers and heads of reoffending and rehabilitation and secondly to work with organisations that support prisons in improving learning, skills development, mental health and wellbeing so their materials can be delivered digitally in cell."