OpenCell

US prisoners have little to no access to resources and information from the outside world, including internet. Our tool provides a safe and integrated solution to aid in this disparity.

Comment

Inspiration

The United States has the highest incarcerated population in the world as well as the highest recidivism rates: many people blame this on the fact that we focus on punishment rather than rehabilitation, and limited information access harms prisoners once they are out of jail. Although the UN has stated that internet access is a fundamental human right, prisoners in the US are completely cut off from the world and learning valuable skills which can deepen inequalities. This project was mainly inspired by the current conditions that most incarcerated people live in through limited information access. It is complicated to explore the whole world of information available due to the lack of internet infrastructure in jails.

What it does

The OpenCell bot works by replying to emails sent to opencell2022@gmail.com. The bot will email back with instructions and ways to use it by typing in the following: -resources: this command will return a list of national programs and contact information directly supporting the rehabilitation and rights of incarcerated people. -wikipedia: this command, followed by any keyword, will return the entire Wikipedia page for the closest related topic. -help: this command, followed by a question (ex. "How do I get a job out of prison?") will post the question on a publicly available forum, and responses will be compiled, reviewed, and sent back.

How we built it

We built this bot using python and imap/smtp packages to connect to our designated email. We were then able to automate sending replies by parsing through emails for commands, and replying using Wikipedia APIs. We built the preliminary website using react js.

Challenges we ran into

We were not familiar with react.js and learnt it from scratch for this project. We also were not familiar with automating emails or experience making bots. However, we were able to collaborate amongst each other and share resources, as well as ask for help when needed. We ran into many ethical issues while ideating this project. We researched beforehand on both sides of the issue and took into account matters of security and privacy as well as the right to information in the digital age. This project took a lot of discussion and thought with several people, including activists in this area outside of treehacks.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that we were able to ideate an integration between automated responses (such as wikipedia) as well supporting questions with community support and knowledge in public forums. With our tool, inmates can learn anything from financial literacy, current events, job preparation/skill building, and group support- all without having direct access to the internet.

What we learned

We learned how to critically assess ethical issues from all sides and not compromise for the rights and freedoms that we believe every person should have. We also learned how to have a clean workflow amongst several people while also learning new languages and skills together.

What's next for OpenCell

We hope to add more functionality such as news digests, connecting prisoners directly to programs facilitators, adding more educational materials, and gaining insights directly from the users to see what is most helpful and needed. We also would hope to eventually complete integrating with more AI to create a probabilistic model that delivers safe and more accurate searches.

Built With

Share this project:

Updates