A nonprofit organization is touting a drastic reduction in prisoner infractions when they were given the opportunity to use virtual reality headsets.
"Inmates escape prison cells using VR headsets."
This clever tagline noted by writer Mario Nawfal sounds like a futuristic version of Sean Connery's "The Rock," but it is actually referring to a program that has allowed prisoners to imagine the world outside their enclosed space.
A nonprofit called Creative Acts reportedly persuaded Meta to donate 20 VR headsets and two headset sanitation machines for a pilot program that is now claiming impressive results. The seven-day program has inmates go through scenes of daily life on the headsets, coupled with adventure programs like paragliding. Each session lasts four hours and involves the program's staff asking prisoners to interpret their emotions through poetry, painting, and more.
Prisons that have piloted the program have seen an alleged 96% reduction in infractions by prisoners who are in solitary confinement. According to a report by the Guardian, Corcoran state prison in California saw infractions by men in solitary drop from 735 to just one infraction after the first one-week program.
That same prison reportedly closed one of its four buildings dedicated to solitary confinement due to the lasting good behavior.
"The VR stirs up the triggers and the trauma and the emotions, and then the art transforms," said Sabra Williams, founder of Creative Acts.
The report on the program does come with some implications and suppositions, however.
One cited prisoner explained how he felt humiliated because prison guards would shut him down when he tried to communicate with them, but the virtual reality sessions provided him with an outlet. The reason for the man being in solitary confinement or what crimes he was charged with were not mentioned, nor was the subject of the pitfalls of prison guards befriending inmates ever broached.
Furthermore, the Creative Acts program gives prisoners physical masks to paint and tells them to paint the image of how they feel society perceives them. One inmate who was serving a life sentence (without parole) wrote "condemned" on his mask, along with some cracks.
Interestingly, this theme was explored in Netflix's "The Punisher" and is eerily similar to what is described in the report.
This was not the first VR program to be implemented in prisons, though. A 2023 report from Technology Review cited a program to teach an inmate how to use a self-checkout upon release, something that did not exist when he began his sentence in 2001.
Looking Glass noted this and other programs such as remote visitations with family members, vocational training, and conflict resolution training.
Perhaps matrix-like mental escapes are better than actual prison escapes, but the implications of simulating outside life without actually getting to experience it could seem like torture to some. It is also unclear what the company may do with the data it is collecting from the test prisoners.
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